Women's court to conduct trial of Jiah Khan suicide case

The special court for women's cases here today ruled that it would conduct the trial of Jiah Khan suicide case and not the CBI court.
The CBI had contended that the case should be heard in the special CBI court.
But the special public prosecutor Dinesh Tiwari argued that the High Court had earlier asked CBI to investigate whether it was a case of homicide, and find out the culprit if it was so.
As the CBI's conclusion was that it was a suicide, the Central agency's role was over and he should be allowed to conduct the trial, Tiwari said.

The judge A S Shende upheld Tiwari's argument. The judge also asked the CBI to hand over all the documents of the case to the special public prosecutor.
The next hearing will be on February 22.

Jiah, the 25-year-old British-American actress, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her house in Juhu here on June 3, 2013.
Her relationship with actor Sooraj Pancholi, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zareena Wahab, was said to be under strain and it was suspected that it drove her to end her life.
Jiah's mother Rabia Khan alleged that Sooraj was responsible for her daughter's death.

The case was taken over by CBI last year on the High Court's order.
The police had arrested Sooraj for abetment of suicide on the basis of a six-page letter purportedly written by Jiah, but the HC granted him bail. Sooraj's lawyers argued that the two were in a consensual relationship.