Actor Jiah Khan's death must be investigated quickly, says Supreme Court to Bombay High Court
Highlights
- CBI has been probing her death since 2014; she was found hanging in 2013
- Her mother asked court to assign a special team of officers to the case
- Sooraj Pancholi, charged with aiding her suicide, denies any role in it
Actress Jiah Khan's case will be heard by the Bombay High Court on June 7, a date set after the Supreme Court said today that how the 25-year-old died must be investigated quickly.
The country's premier investigating agency, the CBI, was assigned to the case in 2014 by the Bombay High Court. Unhappy with the slow inquiry, the actor's mother, Rabiya Amin, had asked the top court to order a special team of officers to the probe.
In May, the prosecution demanded that actor Sooraj Pancholi, charged with aiding Jiah Khan's suicide, be
tried for murder.
Ms Khan, best-known for the film Nishabd, was found hanging in her Mumbai home on the night of June 3, 2013. She was dating Mr Pancholi, who was arrested by Mumbai cops and spent 20 days in jail before being then granted bail.
Ms Khan left behind a six-page
unsigned suicide note in which she wrote that, "Your life was about partying and women. Mine was you and my work. If I stay here I will crave you and miss you." The note did not name Sooraj Pancholi. Ms Khan's mother told the press that she had urged her daughter to end the relationship.
Jiah Khan was allegedly being treated for depression in the months before she died.
Mr Pancholi, who made his debut in last year's film Hero, has denied any role in her death.