'Suraj Pancholi coping well with jail'

Locked away with hardened criminals, Suraj Pancholi seems to be coping well with his condition, according to his sister who met him at the Arthur Road Jail here.

Suraj's sister Sana visited Suraj in prison Saturday. To the family's relief the boy seemed to be in a good mental and physical health.

"Sana went with a lot of dread and despair in her heart. She came away hopeful, and confident that her brother would soon be out and free," said a friend of the Pancholis.

Apparently Suraj assured his sister of his condition.

"The other inmates are completely sympathetic about the sudden incarceration of young, inexperienced Suraj. They have sort of adopted him. They give him their share of food, look after him and protect him against any prison violence," the family friend added.

"Suraj knows his father is in a panic about the crisis. He told Sana to tell their father, 'I didn't do anything. They're saying I confessed to beating her (Jiah) up and many awful crimes. None of this is true. I didn't do anything wrong. And I didn't confess to anything,'" the friend of Pancholis said.

Meanwhile, the view that the six-page letter which Jiah's mother gave out to the police as Jiah's alleged suicide note being not authentic, is gaining credence.

The alleged suicide note and some of the letters that Jiah wrote to Suraj have been handed over to the government-recognised forensic company Helik Advisory for hand-writing authentication.

"The Pancholis are confident that the handwriting in the alleged suicide note would be found to be different from the handwriting in the letters that Jiah wrote to Suraj," the family friend said.