Twists and turns of the Jiah Khan death case: A timeline

A Mumbai court on Friday acquitted actor Sooraj Pancholi of abetting the suicide of his former girlfriend and actor Jiah Khan, lending quietus to a case that assumed different dimensions over the course of nearly a decade..The case took some unusual turns along the way, from the involvement of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the lawyer who represented Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan being appointed as a special prosecutor in the case..Here’s a look at how these events unfolded in the legal arena..On June 3, 2013, a 25-year-old Jiah, who had worked in the Indian film industry alongside some of the biggest names in Bollywood, was found dead at her house..After the police were alerted, an accidental death report was filed at Juhu Police Station and preliminary findings suggested suicide to be the cause of her death.Her mother Rabia found a letter purportedly written by Jiah, describing her tumultuous relationship with Pancholi.Subsequently, Pancholi was arrested on charges of abetment to suicide. He was later granted bail by the Bombay High Court..Rabia was adamant that her daughter didn’t die by suicide. Convinced that her daughter was murdered, she moved the Bombay High Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. In 2014, the High Court transferred the investigation to the CBI..When the FBI offered assistance.While the legal developments progressed, atypical events outside the court began to take shape. Jiah was an American citizen and her mother was keen on getting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on board to probe the case..Unhappy with the way the local police had investigated Jiah’s death, Rabia approached United States authorities. She wrote to then US Ambassador Nancy J Powell and received a communication on the FBI’s willingness to offer technical and forensic assistance to the investigating agency in its probe. Even as Rabia moved the Bombay High Court with a plea seeking the FBI's inputs in 2021, the same would be rejected in September 2022. The Court said that the petition was filed to “procrastinate the trial” in the case..Defamation enters the fray.The case even saw a ₹100 crore defamation suit filed by Sooraj's parents - actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab - against Rabia for her allegedly derogatory comments against them on social media in July 2014.A few days later, during the hearing before the Bombay High Court, Rabia said she would not pass any defamatory statements against the Pancholis.However, in 2016, the Pancholis again moved court, this time with a contempt plea against Rabia for allegedly continuing to make defamatory statements against them. .Chargesheet and a stop-start trial.In December 2015, the CBI chargesheeted Sooraj for abetment to suicide in the case.Rabia again moved the High Court challenging the chargesheet. She claimed that there were anomalies in the agency’s findings and sought a fresh probe into her daughter’s death by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) monitored by the High Court. On February 26, 2016, the High Court stayed the trial, but subsequently remarked that the probe could not go on forever. However, on May 23 that year, the Court stayed the trial again till June 7..Controversy over lawyer’s appointment as SPP.In May 2016, a row ensued over the the appointment of Rabia’s lawyer, Advocate Dinesh Tiwari, as the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the case.The CBI challenged the appointment of Tiwari by the Maharashtra government and cited a “conflict of interest” as one of the grounds in its plea before the Bombay High Court. This, after a special court had already rejected the challenge to Tiwari’s appointment as SPP.Tiwari's appointment was cancelled a couple of years later after the Maharashtra government informed the Court that it had withdrawn the appointment order. .Trial and verdict.The trial in the case commenced in March 2019. In 2021, the sessions court hearing the case said it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the CBI case. The case was subsequently transferred to a special CBI court. Sooraj’s lawyer Prashant Patil moved the special court in January 2023 seeking to expedite the trial by summoning the witnesses. He argued that CBI had produced only 14 witnesses and that the case had been pending since 2014, leading to hardship for his client. The trial was expedited on January 21, 2023 when three witnesses remained to be examined – two investigating officers and an expert.The special court reserved its verdict on the fate of the actor on April 20 before delivering it on Friday. Sooraj was found not guilty of the abetment to suicide charge. .Following Sooraj's acquittal, both parties shared their views on the verdict. Rabia said that she would now approach the higher courts, and would keep fighting till her daughter gets justice..Sooraj's counsel called it a fake case, which had taken 10 precious years of his client's life."Paucity of evidence means there is no evidence. There cannot be compensation for the harm that has been caused to Pancholi after he was embroiled in a fake case for 10 years," said Patil..The case is far from over, with the Bombay High Court likely being the next forum to decide on Rabia's claims.