“She was murdered,” Jiah Khan’s mother writes to Narendra Modi

Jiah Khan’s mother Rabiya Khan has written an open letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which she has asserted that her daughter did not commit suicide but it was a murder.

Jiah was found hanging from a ceiling fan in 2013 at her Juhu flat in Mumbai. Allegedly, her relation with Bollywood actor, Sooraj Pancholi, instigated her to end her life.

A six-page letter was also found from her home four days after her death. She mentioned in the letter her plans to end her life after a painful abortion.

The 25-year-old girl was a British-American actress and singer who appeared in three Bollywood flicks.

The Central Bureau of Investigation of India later charged Pancholi with instigation to suicide.

Rabiya Khan has been fighting for justice since Jiah’s death. She wrote a heart-wrenching open letter to Modi.

According to local Indian media, the bereaved mother wrote,

“My Open letter to Indian PM hon Narendra Modi and British authorities on the platform where every citizen has a right to approach with their quest and grievances, therefore here is my cry to you honourable, sir/Madame,

I am a British citizen the mother of Jiah Khan, who was murdered in India Mumbai on 3 June 2013. It has been four years now that I have been persistently fighting for justice. All the forensic evidence that I have obtained from experts in India and England is pointing towards homicide. Analysis of the forensic experts shows that the injuries on my daughter’s body are inconsistent with the alleged suicidal hanging and all forensic evidence strongly suggest that she was murdered and then hanged to make it look like a suicide.

The Hon’ble Bombay High Court, in July 2014, transferred the investigation to the CBI with a clear mandate to find out whether my daughter’s death was homicidal or suicidal, and if it was found to be homicidal, to launch a further investigation and take appropriate action.

The Hon’ble Bombay High Court, in July 2014, transferred the investigation to the CBI with a clear mandate to find out whether my daughter’s death was homicidal or suicidal, and if it was found to be homicidal, to launch a further investigation and take appropriate action.

For some reason, CBI was reluctant to take over the case from the beginning, and in fifteen months of delay in their findings, the CBI investigation got compromised. It would be an insult to the capabilities of the CBI to say that CBI just failed to conduct a proper investigation. There is no doubt CBI has all the powers and skills required to get to the bottom of my daughter’s death. But somehow, the CBI investigation went off track, for reasons best known to them.

Instead, CBI’s own independent forensic expert opinion is inconclusive and does not rule out either homicide or suicide. The CBI simply recycled the already compromised information provided by the Juhu police, and the worst is, in their own report they deliberately distorted certain information.

Anyone looking at the actual facts, in this case, realises that the case has been heavily “managed”. It is not my task to speculate about the police’s and the CBI’s motivation, but a connection and the influence of the Accused’s father Aditya Pancholi would not be too far-fetched.

The forensic expert Jason Payne-James in his report clearly states that this appears to be a staged homicide. So I approached the Hon’ble High Court earlier this year with all the relevant grievances and expert reports requesting reinvestigation by a SIT. CBI opposed, but the Hon’ble High Court noted in its order that all the points raised in my petition can be submitted to the trial court.

I submitted my application to the trial court through State-appointed Special Public Prosecutor, Dinesh Tiwari who knows the history of this case from the beginning. Following this submission, CBI has been trying to remove SPP Tiwari and to replace him with one of its own prosecutors who has no knowledge about the case and has been displaying a hostile attitude towards me.

Recently, when my application to submit key evidence and forensic expert reports was argued in the trial court, the CBI, along with the accused, strongly opposed their recognition by the court. Now the main point is that if the CBI, who has joined hands with the accused, is not with the victim and not willing to cooperate with me, then how is justice going to be served?

I am attaching the forensic report by forensic expert Jason Payne-James and a report by Professor Deborah Bonneveld to highlight what CBI ignored to investigate and denied justice to the victim’s family.

I fail to write in words my pain and grief. I expect answers to my daughter’s death. May God guide you and help us to get justice. Please let me know what are your plans and advice for the victim’s mother and family. I am knocking at every door where each person’s voice matters. God has placed you on high position to help us against injustice. As a parent, you will understand my pain.”

Kind regards,

Rabiya Khan.

 

Here is what Jiah wrote prior to her ‘suicide’: