Explained: Ahead of the verdict of the Jiah Khan-suicide case, here's the timeline of her story with Sooraj Pancholi

It was June 3, 2013, when Nishabd and Ghajini actress Jiah Khan died by suicide and actor Sooraj Pancholi , who she was in a relationship with, was charged with Abetment to Suicide. When the actress passed away, the media and the fraternity was shocked. A lot has happened in the case in the last 10 years and the verdict is expected tomorrow on April 28. Here’s decoding what all has unfolded from 2013 to 2023. Jiah Khan’s letter to Sooraj [caption id=“attachment_12515092” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jiah Khan’s letter to Sooraj Pancholi[/caption] The late actress’ letter to Pancholi began being circulated in the media and it read- “I don’t know how to say this to you but I might as well now as I have nothing to lose. I’ve already lost everything. If you’re reading this I might have already left or about to leave. I am broken inside. You may not have known this but you affected me deeply to a point where I lost myself in loving you. Yet you tortured me everyday. These days I see no light I wake up not wanting to wake up. There was a time I saw my life with you, a future with you. But you shattered my dreams. I feel dead inside. I’ve never given so much of myself to someone or cared so much. You returned my love with cheating and lies.” [caption id=“attachment_12515112” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jiah Khan’s letter to Sooraj Pancholi[/caption] Khan added- “It didn’t matter how many gifts I gave you or how beautiful I looked for you. I was scared of getting pregnant but I gave myself completely the pain you have caused me everyday has destroyed every bit of me, destroyed my soul. I can’t eat or sleep or think or function. I am running away from everything. The career is not even worth it anymore.”

Jiah Khan was not murdered; she committed suicide, says CBI

This was in 2016. The CBI informed the Bombay High Court that its team has ruled out murder in the Jiah Khan death case. According to this Times of India report, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told a bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Prakash Naik that, “The CBI has no reason to protect the accused (actor Sooraj Pancholi) in the case.” Bombay HC said it will decide on Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan’s plea by 23 August and in the meanwhile, will continue interim stay on the trial against Sooraj Pancholi. While Mumbai police and CBI concluded that it was a case of suicide, Rabia claimed her daughter was murdered and demanded that Jiah’s actor boyfriend should be tried for murder and not for abetment of suicide. Rabia is demanding a probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) alleging that CBI, currently investigating the case, had concurred with the finding of the Mumbai police that Jiah’s death was a case of suicide and not homicide.

Zarina Wahab’s statement

Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia claimed that Jiah, who was found dead in 2013 in her Mumbai home, was verbally, and physically tortured by Pancholi, Jiah’s boyfriend at the time of her death. Rabia also claimed that her daughter was murdered. In her conversation with The Times of India, Zarina Wahab said that although Rabia is not in the country, “the case has been getting delayed for 9 years”. Adding that while the Pancholi family’s sympathy is with Rabia, as she has lost her daughter, Zarina said that whatever she has been doing to the kids is wrong. TOI quoted Zarina as saying, “Sometimes people try to blame someone else to hide their own mistakes. This could have happened 9 years ago. She has been delaying the judgment intentionally.” The Dil Dhadakne Do actress said, “She knows the truth. She should come out of it and not punish an innocent child. She knows from the beginning that it is not Sooraj’s fault. Despite that, she is doing all this.” Further, the actress pointed out that whenever the court is about to pass the verdict, Rabia is absent from the country. Claiming that Rabia is making Sooraj look like a villain, she revealed that the Hero actor is “hopeful because he is not guilty at all.” Zarina concluded by saying, “But making an innocent boy look like a villain in people’s eyes is not correct. Sooraj will find good work if it is in his destiny but this is not the way to call someone guilty when he is innocent.”

‘I have lost my 20s in this bargain, don’t want to feel like a victim,’ says Sooraj

[caption id=“attachment_12515282” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jiah Khan and Sooraj Pancholi[/caption] In 2018, the actor broke his silence and gave a statement on the matter. Speaking to Hindustan Times, he said, “Keeping the emotions intact for the person who has passed away, we do need some movement forward. It’s been a long, long time and I can’t afford to lose more time.” Sooraj, on 30 January, was  charged by the Mumbai Court of abetting Khan’s suicide and the trial for the same had been scheduled for 14 February. “I knew that there was something I was going to be charged with but I’m ready for any charge against me, because until I have a charge, I cannot defend myself.  I have lost my 20s in this bargain, but I don’t want to feel like a victim. I don’t want any sympathy. I just want my trial to be fair — whether it goes against me or in my favour. I’ve been shown as a criminal since day one; it’s not a good thing to live with. Four years of my prime have gone in attending court proceedings and nothing has happened. I want my case to end, fairly,” said Sooraj, to the same publication. Jiah Khan’s Mother Trying To Delay The Trial: Bombay HC Last year in 2023, a division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and M N Jadhav in its order dated September 12 dismissed a petition filed by Rabia Khan seeking a fresh probe into the case, preferably by the FBI, the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States. The CBI has carried out a fair, impartial, and thorough probe into the suicide of actor Jiah Khan but her mother Rabia Khan was trying to procrastinate and delay the trial by insisting it was a homicide, the Bombay High Court said. The Verdict Almost ten years after she was found dead at her home, a special CBI court here is likely to pass its judgment on April 28 in the Bollywood actor Jiah Khan suicide case in which her boyfriend and film star Sooraj Pancholi has been charged for abetment. Special CBI Judge AS Sayyad on Thursday heard the final arguments of both sides and reserved his judgment in the case. Jiah (25), an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police later arrested Suraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet, and booked him for “abetment to suicide”. The case was reassigned to a special CBI court in 2021 after the sessions court said that it did not have the jurisdiction over the case as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had probed it. Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan, a key prosecution witness in the case, told the court that she believed it to be a case of murder and not suicide. The Bombay High Court had last year dismissed her petition seeking a fresh investigation into the case. During her deposition, Rabia had told the CBI court that Suraj used to subject Jiah to physical and verbal abuse. Rabia had told the court that neither police nor the CBI had collected any “legal evidence” to prove that her daughter had committed suicide. Prashant Patil, appearing for Sooraj, said, “We concluded the final arguments today (Thursday) on facts as well as on merits in the matter of Suraj Pancholi versus CBI.” “We relied upon certain landmark judgments of the honourable Supreme Court as well as high court to point out as to how the current case does not fall under the category of abetment to suicide. Now the matter is listed for passing of final judgment (on April 28),” Patil added. Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is currently out on bail in the case. The CBI had alleged that the letter seized by the Mumbai police, which first probed the case on June 10, 2013, was written by Jiah Khan. The note narrated Jiah Khan’s “intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture” allegedly at the hands of Pancholi which led her to commit suicide, the central agency had said. With added inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.