The Bombay high court said on Tuesday that it was not trying to find fault with the investigations into Jiah Khan's death, but the truth must be known whether the young actress committed suicide or was murdered.
"The case is pending for a year. Whatever decision is to be taken should be taken. Ultimately we have to find out the truth," a division bench of judges VM Kanade and PD Kode said, while hearing a petition filed by Jiah's mother Rabiya Khan, who is seeking a CBI inquiry in the case.
Rabiya claims that her daughter was murdered and she has alleged that some persons in the higher echelons of the police force were trying to prevent a fair probe. Therefore, the case must be investigated by an independent agency.
The court also asked the government pleader to furnish a brief on the investigations done in the case on July 3, so that the matter can be finally decided on July 10.
Rabiya's counsels, Subhash Jha and Dinesh Tiwari, pointed out various discrepancies in the post-mortem report and the report of the resident medico-legal expert from Delhi that stated Jiah's death was homicidal and not a suicide.
Poornima Kantharia, additional public prosecutor, argued that "it is they who are doing a parallel investigation and trying to show that it is a case of murder and not suicide. As for the police they have done a thorough investigation."
The Juhu police has already filed a chargesheet against Sooraj Pancholi, charging him under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code for abetting Jiah's suicide.
However, after the chargesheet was filed, Rabiya carried out a sting operation on a few witnesses which revealed that they had not told the police what was recorded in their statements to the police, thereby raising doubts about the cops pointing to a suicide.
