Jiah Khan death case: Timeline of events surrounding the mysterious demise of Nishabd, Ghajini starlet

When the news of Bollywood star Jiah Khan’s death flashed on the headlines in 2013, it left many shocked. Jiah made a noticeable debut in Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Then she was seen in supporting roles in blockbuster films like Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini and Akshay Kumar-starrer Housefull. [caption id=“attachment_4210921” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sooraj Pancholi and Jiah Khan. Image from Twitter/@bombayinformer[/caption] Allegations of involvement, in Jiah’s suspicious death, against Sooraj Pancholi — known to be in a relationship with the deceased actress — surfaced during the preliminary investigations. And what followed was a series of cases, defamation charges and proceedings. Recently, it was reported that a sessions court in Mumbai, on 30 January, framed charges against  Sooraj for allegedly abetting Khan’s suicide. Here’s a timeline of events in the line up of recent developments in the Jiah Khan death case: 3 June, 2013: Jiah’s body is found hanging in her apartment in Juhu, Mumbai at around 10.45 pm by her mother Rabia. 4 June, 2013: The actress’ body is taken for postmortem to a Mumbai hospital. Preliminary round of investigation commences with questioning of people close to Jiah, including Sooraj. 5 June, 2013: Rabia tells the police that her daughter was undergoing serious depression issues for a long time. 7 June, 2013: A six page  letter is found in Jiah’s apartment that details her tumultuous relationship with Sooraj. The letter is taken into police custody. 11 June, 2013: Sooraj is arrested after being charged with abetment to suicide, under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 13 June, 2013: Forensic report of Jiah’s body is released, confirming the cause of death to be hanging. 21 June, 2013: Court rejects Sooraj’s bail plea 27 June, 2013: A hearing of Sooraj is conducted via video-conferencing 1 July, 2013: Court grants bail to Sooraj against a bond of Rs 50,000; it also asks him to surrender his passport. 2 July, 2013: Court acquits Sooraj denying any involvement in Jiah’s suicide. 4 October, 2013: Rabia pleads to the court asking for an elaborate CBI probe. 3 July, 2014: Court accepts the plea and asks CBI to take over the investigation from Mumbai police. 5 July, 2014: Sooraj’s father, Aditya Pancholi, files a defamation case worth Rs 100 crore against Rabia. 15 May, 2015: CBI conducts a raid at Sooraj’s house 26 June, 2015: Sooraj is questioned by CBI 9 December, 2015: CBI files a supplementary charge sheet alleging Sooraj of abetting Khan’s suicide. 1 August, 2016: CBI confirms hanging to be the reason behind Khan’s death and rules out any possibility of murder. 20 September, 2016: Rabia brings British forensic expert Jason Payne-James on board, who claims Jiah’s death was ‘staged’. Aditya refutes any such claims and undermines the validity of Payne-James’ claims stating the forensic reports come from a private lab 9 February, 2017: Court rejects Rabia’s plea against CBI’s charge sheet and her demand of forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to monitor the whole investigation from the start. 21 April, 2017: Rabia approaches sessions court seeking access to Blackberry messenger chats between her daughter and Sooraj, that she claimed were deleted. She also wishes to approach FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) to intervene and seeks their help in attaining the deleted messages. 18 September, 2017: Rabia writes an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his help on the case and justice for her daughter. 14 October, 2017: Sooraj files a plea at Bombay High Court requesting expedition in the trial proceedings. 23 January, 2018: Special CBI court rejects plea for further investigation against Sooraj, filed by actress’ mother. 30 January, 2018: Mumbai sessions court frames charges against Bollywood actor Sooraj for allegedly abetting Khan’s suicide. Investigations to start from 14 February; Sooraj denies charges and pleads innocence.