Late actress Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia Khan told a special court in Mumbai that her daughter wanted to end her relationship with actor Sooraj Pancholi before her alleged suicide in 2013. Pancholi was booked for abetment of suicide by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the Ghajini actress’ death. Rabia Khan on Wednesday began recording her testimony in the case before special judge A S Sayyad. Sooraj is currently out on bail.
Rabia gave a detailed record starting from Jiah’s debut into showbiz to her meeting Sooraj and their subsequent relationship. Pancholi had approached Jiah through a social media site and insisted on meeting her, she said. The late actress was initially apprehensive and reluctant, but the duo met for the first time in September 2012, Rabia Khan said.
“At that time, we used to chat on Blackberry messenger. She sent me pictures of him doing martial arts stunts. To me, it did seem like they clicked and they had some common hobbies. He said that he would introduce her to his gym. I had asked her about him and around September she had said that ‘we are just friends’,” Rabia added.
However, she said her daughter’s daily routine was “taken over” by Pancholi and by October 2012, the duo had started living at each other’s house. During her visit to their London home in November that year, the actress looked very happy, she said.
Rabia continued that Jiah returned to Mumbai for professional work and was supposed to come back to celebrate Christmas, but did not turn up. On December 24, 2012, she said she received a message from Pancholi, saying he got angry with Jiah Khan after a fight with a friend and that she (the actress) should forgive him and give him another chance. “At that time, I discovered that the duo had a violent fight,” she said. Rabia Khan said Jiah Khan decided to give him a second chance and the duo went to Goa.
However, in one of her phone calls, Jiah complained about being in a very strange place and not wanting to stay there. In Goa, he used to put her down in front of other friends and flirt with other women in her presence, Rabia Khan said, citing her conversations with her daughter. She also informed that Jiah told her that Pancholi abused her verbally and physically and also called her “dirty names.” Jiah also told her mother that she thinks Pancholi is cheating on her. “I asked her to send pictures of people she is with and she sent pictures of herself with some of Sooraj’s female friends and in that picture, I saw bruises on her thigh and on her elbow and she said ‘Never mind we just had a fight,’” said Khan.
Jiah Khan was found hanging at her Mumbai residence on June 3, 2013, by her mother. Rabia Khan’s testimony will continue on Thursday.
(With PTI inputs)
Read the Latest News and Breaking News here
