Jiah Khan case: Mumbai court to hear CBI’s plea challenging state move to appoint special public prosecutor

The Bombay high court is likely to hear on Tuesday the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea challenging the Maharashtra government’s decision to appoint a special public prosecutor (SPP) in the Jiah Khan suicide case.

Earlier this month, Justice AK Menon of the HC stayed the trial against actor Suraj Pancholi, who has been charged with abetting Khan’s suicide, and directed the advocate general to explain during the next hearing whether the government could appoint a special prosecutor in a case where the prosecuting agency was the CBI.

The CBI, through its counsel Hiten Venegaonkar, has opposed the appointment of Dinesh Tiwari as the SPP on grounds that the agency has its designated counsels, and more importantly, Tiwari’s appointment led to a “conflict of interest” as he earlier represented Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan in the HC.

As Rabia’s counsel, Tiwari had raised questions on the CBI’s inquiry in the case.

On November 6, 2015, a month before the CBI filed its supplementary charge sheet in the case, the state law and judiciary department notified Tiwari’s appointment as the SPP.

Earlier, Rabia Khan too had written to the state government, urging Tiwari be given charge as the SPP in the case in the trial court.

Jiah Khan’s dead body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her home on June 3, 2013. The police had charged Jiah Khan’s then boyfriend, Pancholi, of abetting the suicide.

A year later, following a plea filed by Rabia, another bench of the HC transferred the probe into the case to the CBI. While the CBI concluded Khan committed suicide, Rabia approached HC again, claiming her daughter’s death was homicidal and that it be probed by an SIT.

The HC, however, dismissed the plea.