The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted a day’s time to Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi to issue notice to Central Bureau of Investigation so that the investigating agency could file reply on his petition seeking back his passport as well as the court’s permission to travel abroad.
Pancholi is facing the charge of driving his girlfriend actor Jiah Khan to commit suicide. He has been released on conditional bail and his passport has been confiscated by the investigating agency and hence he is required to take the court’s permission to travel abroad.
Pancholi in his application has said that he has to travel outside the country to fulfil certain professional commitments and has requested the court to direct the investigating agency to hand him over his passport and also allow him to travel abroad. In his petition he has assured the court that he would return his passport to the investigating agency after returning to India.
However, when the application came up for hearing before Justice Mridula Bhatkar, the government pleader on behalf of state government informed the court that the investigation has now been transferred to the CBI by an order passed by the high court. The court then asked the petitioner to give notice to CBI so that it could file reply on his petition. Justice Bhatkar than posted this matter for hearing on Wednesday.
Jiah had allegedly committed suicide on June 3, 2013 after hanging herself from a ceiling fan in her suburban Juhu residence. Jiah’s boyfriend-actor Pancholi was arrested on June 10, 2013 for abetting her suicide but was released on July 2 after the HC granted him bail.
However, Rabiya Khan, Jiah’s mother suspects that her daughter was murdered by someone and hence she filed a petition in the high court seeking a probe by an independent agency under the court’s supervision.
Following this, the high court in July 2014 transferred probe in the case to CBI. CBI, after investigation, submitted its chargesheet before a trial court here and charged Pancholi for abetment of suicide.
Not satisfied with CBI’s probe also, Rabia once again filed petition in the high court seeking investigation by a Special Investigating Team.
