Jiah Khan case: Bombay HC allows intervention plea by Sooraj Pancholi

The Bombay high court on Wednesday permitted actor Sooraj Pancholi, accused of having abetted the suicide of his actor girlfriend, Jiah Khan, to intervene in the petition filed by her mother Rabia Khan against the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) charge sheet in the case.

Pancholi approached the HC through senior counsel Harshad Ponda, seeking, among other things, a stay on the trial to be vacated. The counsel argued that his client’s right to have a “free, fair and expeditious trial” was being obstructed because of the petition filed in the HC by Rabia, questioning the charge sheet filed by the CBI.

In his application, Pancholi has said that Rabia was “concealing several crucial” facts in the case.

He also claimed that a “British national, Desmond Bloom, who was Jiah’s childhood friend,” had written to the Mumbai police and the CBI, claiming that “Jiah had once attempted suicide in London,” and that “Rabia had purposely concealed the fact that Jiah had suicidal tendencies.”

He also said that while he has been “ready for trial, due to the six months stay, he is losing his right to a fair and expeditious trial.”

Jiah Khan was found dead in her flat on June 3, 2013. Pancholi was charged with abetment and arrested ten days later. While he is currently out on bail, the sessions court is yet to frame charges in the case.

READ: Jiah Khan case: New report suggests suicide was staged, Sooraj Pancholi reacts