EXCLUSIVE: We are all praying and hopeful that we get a positive judgement, says Aditya Pancholi

Tomorow is a big day for the entire Pancholi family. The day has finally come for them to get the verdict in the Jiah Khan murder case. As per a report in the ‘Bar And Bench’ portal, a Mumbai court is likely to be pronouncing its verdict in the Jiah Khan suicide case tomorrow (on April 28). After having heard the final arguments on April 20 this year, A S Sayyad (Special Judge) had reserved the case for verdict.

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Speaking exclusively to OTTplay, Aditya Pancholi said, “We are all praying and hopeful that we get a positive judgement. We had got the news 9about the verdict date) when we did our final argument, which was on April 20 this year. The judge Sayyad saab had reserved the verdict for tomorrow. All of us are very anxious and very positive about the verdict. We all are keeping our fingers crossed”.

For the unversed, the whole case started on June 3, 2013. This was the day and year when the Bollywood actress Jiah Khan ended her life by suicide. She was found hanging from the ceiling by her mother Rabia Khan. Jiah Khan had reportedly written a 6-page letter, which was taken as her suicide note. The 6 page letter reportedly described her relationship with Sooraj Pancholi, the son of Aditya Pancholi. Based on the letter, Sooraj Pancholi was booked by the Mumbai Police for abetment of suicide. Sooraj was then arrested and was released on bail by Bombay High Court on July 1 in the year 2013.

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Not happy with the decision, Jiha Khan’s mother, then, went onto move the Bombay High Court, wherein she sought transfer of investigation to either Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or Special Investigation Team (SIT). The year 2014 saw the case being transferred to the CBI, wherein the trail began on March 2019.

It was during December 2015, the CBI had charged Sooraj Pancholi with abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code). After this, Rabi Khan had approached the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) stating that Jiah Khan was an American citizen, which was, however, rejected by the High Court.

Post that, Sooraj Pancholi’s lawyer Prashant Patil went on to move the Special Court in January this year seeking the summoning of the witnesses for the expedition of the trial. On his part, Prashant Patil had argued that, the case had been pending since 2014 and that the CBI had only produced 14 witnesses. He also reasoned that the trail’s delay was causing hardship to Sooraj Pancholi. Post that, on January 21 this year, the trial got expedited when 3 witnesses were remaining to be examined. These three witnesses included two IOs (Investigating Officers) and an expert.

On her part, Rabia Khan too had filed an application before the special judge, in which she had sought the recall of two witnesses, something which was opposed by the CBI on the grounds that they had already investigated the witnesses at length. Hence, Rabia Khan's application had got rejected by the Court. After hearing both the sides of the arguments, the judge had (on April 20 this year) said that he would try to deliver the verdict in the case on April 28 this year.