The
CBI
on
Wednesday
registered
a
formal
case
to
investigate
the
death
of
Bollywood
actress
Jiah
Khan,
five
weeks
after
a
Bombay
High
Court
order,
an
official
said.
The
development
came
after
the
high
court
transferred
the
case
to
the
Central
Bureau
of
Investigation
(CBI)
and
asked
it
to
consider
whether
it
was
a
case
of
suicide
or
homicidal
death.
"If
it
comes
to
a
conclusion
that
it
is
a
homicidal
death,
then
further
investigation
be
made
to
find
out
who
is
the
perpetrator
of
the
crime
and
accordingly
action
be
taken," a
division
bench
of
Justice
V.M.
Kanade
and
Justice
P.D.
Kode
had
said
in
its
order
July
3.
A
US
citizen,
Jiah
Khan
was
found
hanging
from
a
ceiling
fan
in
her
Mumbai
home
June
3
last
year
in
a
case
of
apparent
suicide.
Police
later
recovered
a
suicide
note
purportedly
penned
by
her.The
court
had
ordered
the
agency
to
take
over
the
probe
from
a
Special
Investigation
Team
(SIT)
of
Maharashtra
Police
following
a
plea
filed
by
the
actress'
mother
Rabia
Khan
in
October
2013,
seeking
a
probe
by
the
CBI.
"The
case
is
handed
over
to
the
CBI
for
further
investigation
and
to
assess
whether
Jiah
Khan
committed
suicide
or
was
murdered," the
division
bench
said
last
month.
The
court
said
it
was
not
expressing
any
opinion
on
the
merits
of
the
probe
done
by
Mumbai
police.
The
court
had
directed
the
Maharashtra
government
and
police
to
provide
all
necessary
support
to
the
CBI
in
investigating
the
case.
The
judges
said
the
forensic
opinion
obtained
privately
by
petitioner
Rabia
Khan
was
at
variance
with
that
of
Mumbai
police,
suggesting
there
was
a
"lacuna" in
the
probe.
Moreover,
the
SIT
constituted
following
court
directives
consisted
of
officers
who
were
part
of
the
earlier
team
that
had
probed
the
case
and
reached
the
conclusion
that
Jiah
Khan's
death
was
a
suicide.
Police
had
subsequently
arrested
Jiah
Khan's
boyfriend,
Sooraj
Pancholi,
the
actor-son
of
actors
Aditya
Pancholi
and
Zarina
Wahab,
and
charged
him
with
allegedly
abetting
her
suicide.
Not
satisfied
with
the
probe,
Rabia
Khan
had
moved
the
high
court,
submitting
reports
by
independent
experts
to
support
her
contention
that
Jiah
Khan
was
murdered.
The
court
had
pulled
up
the
CBI
for
its
reluctance
to
take
up
the
case
investigation
on
grounds
of
shortage
of
manpower,
as
stated
by
CBI
counsel
Vedika
Gonsalves.
"It
is
not
expected
of
the
CBI
to
come
out
with
such
an
excuse
-
that
they
do
not
have
enough
officers
to
conduct
a
probe.
In
a
country
of
one
billion
people,
an
agency
like
the
CBI
should
not
take
such
a
stance
otherwise,
where
will
the
citizens
go
to
seek
justice?" Justice
Kanade
observed.
In
October
2013,
Rabia
Khan
did
not
insist
on
a
CBI
probe
after
the
court
directed
police
to
record
her
statements
and
investigate
the
death
as
a
murder
case.
Police,
however,
again
concluded
that
Jiah
Khan
had
committed
suicide
and
charged
Sooraj
with
abetting
it.
Undeterred
in
her
quest
for
unravelling
the
truth
behind
her
daughter's
death,
Rabia
Khan
mentioned
several
circumstances
in
her
petition
which
indicated
that
Jiah
Khan
could
have
been
killed,
and
how
police
had
allegedly
discarded
the
opinion
of
a
private
forensic
expert
she
had
provided.
Accordingly,
the
CBI
has
now
registered
a
case
and
started
a
probe
into
the
death.