A fresh twist that has surfaced may change all that is known in the three years old suicide case of actress Jiah Khan. A British Forensic lab, in its report, has concluded that the suicide had been staged, reported a leading daily. The tests were conducted by Payne-James which was contacted by Jiah’s mother Rabiya Khan.
The forensic team sighted that the marks on Jiah’s face and neck rule out the possibility of her death being a simple suicide. The reports are in sharp contradiction to the findings of Indian experts. Rabiya intends to present them with a Sessions court on Wednesday.
However, if the court will consider findings of a lab hired by Rabiya and not the state, remains a question. Only last month CBI had told the Bombay High Court that it has ruled out the possibility of a murder in this high profile case.
The Jiah Khan suicide case has been shrouded in mystery for long. Jiah, who was in a romantic relationship with actor Sooraj Pancholi, was found hanging in her Juhu apartment on June 3, 2013. Her mother Rabiya kept on repeating that her daughter could not have committed suicide. On Rabiya’s petition for a thorough probe in the matter, the Bombay High Court instructed the CBI to take up the case. In December 2015, CBI charged Sooraj for abetment of suicide.
Unhappy with the case put up by CBI, Rabiya contacted the UK-based Forensic lab. After studying medical, post-mortem reports, analysing photographs and reviewing the CCTV footage of Jiah’s residence, the team came to a conclusion that it was staged.
The marks on Jiah’s lower lips, the UK based lab said, represent either abrasions or bruises and could have been caused by ‘blunt’ trauma to the mouth. These abrasions can happen when mouth is punched or hand placed over it. The lab also said that marks are not typical teeth ones, owing to the site and appearance.
However, the reports of the state’s forensic labs had said that these marks could have been formed due to the friction of teeth during ‘the commission of the act [suicide]’.
About the ligature marks on Jiah’s neck the state’s reports had said that it may have happened after the duppatta (ligature material) slipped. But Payne-James’ said that it is impossible that the pressure from the dupatta may have caused such prominent and well-defined marks on the neck. Reportedly, the foreign lab also ruled out the possibility that multiple knots in the dupptta may have caused marks in Jiah’s lower jaw.
It added that a binding object made of a different material may have been used to create the blunt impacts.
Questioning the Indian investigations, James-Payne added that the possibility of a staged hanging after death has not been considered. Pointing about the marks on the left arm and lower lip, the lab said that it comes in agreement to assault and could not have been caused by a simple dupatta. They also said that there have been serious misinterpretations have happened in the case.
“The apparent intention to attribute her death to suicide may mean that the real possibility of a staged hanging subsequent to earlier death at the hands of another has been missed,” stated the report.
While Rabiya’s lawyer Dinesh Tiwari has said that he will present these evidences in the court, Sooraj Pancholi’s father actor Aditya Pancholi doubted if the court will admit it.
While speaking to a leading daily on the newest twist, Aditya said that the reports are from a private lab which is paid for. He added that at different levels, many investigations have been done in this case and all of them reached the same conclusion that it was a suicide.
