Jiah Khan's Mother "Destroyed" Case Against Sooraj Pancholi: Court

Actor Jiah Khan's mother "destroyed the case of the prosecution" by giving contradictory statements and withholding facts, the special CBI court which cleared the movie star's boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi of driving her to suicide, has said in its judgment.

"The complainant (Rabia Khan) in her evidence directly blamed both the investigating agencies stating that they had not conducted a proper and correct investigation. By giving such open contradictory evidence, the complainant himself has destroyed the case of the prosecution," the court said.

"The complainant openly shown distrust on the prosecution.  When the case of prosecution was of suicide, the complainant stated it was murder case. However, there is no charge of murder in this case. In fact, the complainant herself denied the prosecution's case and disowned her earlier statement. Inspite of the said fact, the prosecution requested to declare her hostile and continue the trial with such handicap evidence," it observed.

The CBI court also observed that Jiah Khan's mother Rabia Khan raised doubts on everyone except herself.

"When expert witnesses gave their opinion regarding cause of death of the deceased as suicidal, the complainant took exactly contradictory view stating that doctors have given a wrong opinion. The complaint raised doubts even on the doctor who conducted postmortem examination. The complainant raised doubts on everyone except herself.The evidence given by the complainant is found to be full fledged with improvements and constrictions," CBI court judge AS Sayyad said in the 53-page order.

The CBI court also raised doubt on a letter, allegedly written by Jiah Khan on her deteriorating relationship with Mr Pancholi. The letter was found "all of sudden" by Rabia Khan, four days after Jiah Khan's death, in her own notebook, the order said. The court also observed that Rabia Khan refused to hand over the letter for investigation, but got it published in the media.

"The circumstances as above creates serious suspicion regarding the actual author of the said letter," the judge observed.

The judge also questioned the delay in filing the First Information Report, or FIR, in the case.

Sooraj Pancholi was acquitted on Friday by the special CBI court in Mumbai.

Reacting to the verdict, Rabia Khan reiterated that her daughter was killed and said she will approach the high court. "The verdict is on alleged suicide, but I have always maintained that Jiah was murdered. This, in fact, strengthens my case"," she said.

Jiah Khan, 25, was found dead at her Juhu home in Mumbai on June 3, 2013.