Although the special crime division of the CBI -which was tasked by the Bombay High Court in July 2014 to find out whether Khan’s death was suicidal or homicidal – doesn’t make a case for homicide, it could make the abetment to suicide case against Pancholi a wee bit stronger.
Khan’s mother, Rabia Khan, had moved the high court alleging foul play in her daughter’s death and the HC had subsequently asked the CBI to investigate.
The CBI charge sheet, submitted to a session’s court on Wednesday, describes Khan’s abortion and Pancholi’s role in it in graphic detail. A source gave details of the charge sheet to Mumbai Mirror on the express condition of anonymity and said that Jiah was four weeks pregnant when she informed Pancholi about it. The couple then approached a physician who prescribed some medicines for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) but that didn’t help. The couple then approached another doctor and finally a gynaecologist who prescribed a stronger and more effective combination of drugs.
“After taking the medicine, Khan started haemorrhaging and called Pancholi for help. She was in pain and needed immediate medical attention but Pancholi allegedly asked her to wait and called up the gynaecologist for guidance. He was asked to rush Khan to hospital as the foetus had probably aborted but had not been expelled from the body, which is probably what led to the haemorrhaging,” the charge sheet says. It adds that Pancholi was afraid that if Khan got hospitalised, their relationship would become public knowledge and his career could grind to a halt even before taking off. Sooraj then decided to take matters in his own hand rather than risk going to a hospital. He extricated the foetus and disposed of it in the toilet, the charge sheet alleges.
This allegedly left a deep emotional scar on Khan as she was very possessive about Pancholi and the latter started avoiding her, possibly for the sake of his acting career. “This added to her depression which finally drove her to suicide,” the charge sheet says.
The earlier charge sheet filed by the Juhu police after Khan’s suicide does not mention this incident and it came to light only when the CBI recorded the statement of doctors, who are among the 11 new witnesses examined.
Officially, the CBI was tight-lipped about the contents of the charge sheet and only said that a case under Section 306 of the IPC was made out against a “private person”.
Section 306 of the IPC deals with abetment to suicide and carries a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and also a fine.
The charge sheet adds: “The wilful conduct of the accused narrated in the note written by the deceased, her intimate relationship, the physical abuse, the mental and physical torture which she experienced, allegedly led the deceased to commit suicide.”
The CBI charge sheet adds that “the accused are presumed to be innocent till their guilt is finally established after a fair trial.”
The CBI had conducted a search on Pancholi’s house in Mumbai and found several documents, including letters, pen drives and memory cards. “Everything was sent to the Delhi headquarters of the CBI for analysis which provided the team with very crucial leads,” a CBI officer said on the condition of anonymity.
The CBI charge sheet has statements of Pancholi’s domestic help, the building’s watchman, the florist who delivered the last bouquet to Khan just before she allegedly committed suicide and actor Anju Mahendroo.
Pancholi’s mother, Zarina Wahab, told Mumbai Mirror: “We came to know about the filing of the charge sheet via media only and we were not intimated by the investigating agency.” Wahab added that the family’s lawyer will decide the future course of action after going through the charge sheet.
