Jiah Khan death case: ‘Due to paucity of evidence, can’t hold you guilty’

The sixpage suicide note allegedly written by actress Jiah Khan due to which a case of abetment of suicide was registered against actor Sooraj Pancholi turned out to be a factor that resulted in a special CBI court acquitting him on Friday Pancholirsquos advocate Prashant Patil claimed that the note was not written by thedeceasedHe also stated it was found inside a diary three to four days after the alleged suicide occurred on June 3 2013Jiah Khanrsquos mother Rabia Khan addressing the media outside the sessions court on Friday said ldquoI have always said that this not a suicide but a case of murder and this verdict further strengthens my claims I will move the higher court to challenge this orderrdquoRabia Khan Jiah Khanrsquos mother speaks with media persons outside the court PicsAnurag AhirePatil who claimed that the suicide note and other evidence were planted to ldquosuppress the truth that Jiah Khan was suffering from depressionrdquo has also stated that the forensic report has confirmed that the handwriting in the diary matched that of the suicide note and that the writer of both is the sameHe told midday ldquoRabia Khan had testified before the court that this was not a suicide note Secondly when the police raided the premises on the day of the suicide they didnrsquot find any note Four days after the incident somebody came up with the note and it was given to the media not the police The note does not mention anybodyrsquos name nor was it signed or addressed to anyone According to the CBI the socalled suicide note was seized from a diary The opinion of handwriting experts is that the author of the diary and the suicide note are the same During the trial the prime witness Rabia Khan admitted that the handwriting in the diary is hers Thus the suicide note theory and the entire case against my client falls flatrdquoAlso read Jiah Khan suicide case Won my dignity confidence back says Sooraj PancholiHe added ldquoWhile being crossexamined before the court Rabia Khan stated that dairy belonged to her My client spent 22 days in prison and for the past ten years he has been waiting for justice Now justice has prevailedrdquoSooraj Pancholi at the CBI court on FridayAsked if the writing on the note was ever matched with that of Jiah Khan Patil said ldquoThe mother never provided her natural handwriting saying that it was not available with herrdquoThe advocate further alleged ldquoSince day one there has been a modus operandi to suppress the truth and the CBI has never examined two important witnesses The first is the doctor who according to the CBI and police treated Jiah when she had attempted suicide He had said that she was depressed and had tried to end her life The second important witness is Moin Beig who helped Jiahrsquos mother cool the body on the day of the incident They were not examined because they would have said the truth and the prosecutionrsquos case would have been damagedrdquoTeary eyes in courtOn Friday the court pronounced its verdict at 1230 pm while Pancholi was present inside the courtroom and was later called to the witness box Special Judge A S Sayyed told Pancholi ldquoDue to the paucity of the evidence this court canrsquot hold you guilty and hence you have been acquittedrdquoPancholi then smiled at his mother Zarina Wahab who was present and in tears She thanked God when reporters inside the courtroom sought a reactionPatil after walking out of the courtroom said ldquoFor the past ten years not a single order of high court special court and the Supreme Court has gone against Sooraj Pancholi The case was being investigated by Indiarsquos two premier agencies the CBI and the Mumbai Police and despite that there is not a single shred of evidence against Pancholi Twentytwo witnesses were examined and nothing was found against him It is easy to make allegations in the media but when the evidence comes on record no one can travel beyond that and the law is above everyone and the court has today acquitted himrdquoTerming mental health issues a concern Patil said ldquoThe government has introduced the Mental Healthcare Act in 2017 because youngsters are facing depression and anxiety One of the crux of the argument before the court was that in the case of any person who unfortunately commits suicide a single incident cannot be a triggering point You have to understand and investigate the economic social and cultural background of the person since childhood and in this case we have brought the journey of the deceased since her childhood before the court and some serious incidences have come on record Three of four incidents were very serious and we assume that because of this she had no option but to commit suiciderdquoHe stated that Jiah Khan had attempted to die by suicide prior to June 3 ldquoWe told the court if the deceased has suicidal tendencies why was Sooraj Pancholi falsely implicated and it was a onesided mala fide targeted investigationrdquo he saidActressrsquo mum moves pleaBefore the court passed its order Rabia Khan moved an application before it stating that there were various discrepancies in the investigation carried out by both agencies According to the application they are nonanalysis of the deceasedrsquos devices nonanalysis of the ligature found around the deceased nonanalysis of the ligature mark nonretrieval of the BBM messages between the deceased and accused and lack of mention of the injury marks on the deceased in the postmortem reportrdquoThe application reads ldquoIt is submitted that the conclusion of the medical evidence also states that death by suicide cannot be ruled out but it is necessary to examine the ligature however till date the same was never done which itself indicates that a proper impartial fair and transparent investigation is not done till daterdquoRabia Khan also stated that both investigating agencies had not collected legal evidence or proof to say this was a mere case of suicide and the first informant believes it is a murder case and the accused is responsible for killing her daughterJiah 25 a United States resident was found dead in her Juhu home On the basis of the letter the police arrested Pancholi on June 10 and charged him with abetting her suicide The Mumbai Police who initially looked into the issue seized a letter that the CBI claimed was authored by Jiah Khan According to the central agency the message detailed Jiah Khanrsquos alleged ldquointimate relationship physical abuse and mental and physical torturerdquo at the hands of PancholiJiahrsquos mother Rabia Khan a significant witness for the prosecution told the court that she thought it was a case of murder rather than suicide She had petitioned the Bombay High Court for a further probe into the matter but it was denied last yearPancholirsquos statementPancholi released a statement after the verdict that read ldquoThe verdict has taken 10 long painful years and sleepless nights Today I have not only won this case against me but I have also won my dignity and confidence back It took a lot of courage to face the world with such heinous allegations I hope and pray to God that nobody goes through what I have gone through at such a young age I donrsquot know who will give me these 10 years of my life back but I am glad that this has finally come to an end not only for me but especially for my family There is nothing bigger than peace in this worldrdquoJune 3Day in 2013 when alleged suicide occurred10 JuneDay in 2013 Suraj was arrested