Jiah Khan suicide case: Suraj sent in JC, files bail plea

Suraj Pancholi, held on the charge of abetting suicide of actress Jiah Khan, today moved a sessions court for bail after he was remanded in judicial custody till June 27 by a magistrate here.
The bail application is likely to come up for hearing before a Sessions Court tomorrow, sources said.
Suraj has pleaded in the bail application that his custodial interrogation was not required at this juncture as police had already recorded statements of witnesses and recovered some articles from his house to prove the case.
21-year-old Suraj, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Jadhav who rejected the remand application for extending his police custody.

Instead, the court remanded Suraj in judicial custody which entitled him to seek bail.
Prosecutor A K Pancharane argued that police had found the word "rape" in the letter purportedly written by Jiah to her boyfriend three days before her death and they wanted to probe this angle.

Besides, police had recovered two letters from the servant of Pancholi family and the investigators wanted to know who had written them and to whom, the prosecutor argued.
The police remand application also said that the investigators wanted to take samples of Suraj's handwriting to prove the letters written by him to Jiah.

Suraj's Counsel Zamir Khan, on the other hand, opposed the remand application saying police had already recorded statements of witnesses including Jiah's mother and sister and also of Pancholi family's servant. Suraj's house was searched and some articles recovered by police. Hence, his custodial interrogation was not required.
However, the court did not agree with police that Suraj was required in police custody and hence sent him to judicial custody.
Suraj was arrested on June 10 after Jiah hanged herself at her Juhu residence on Monday last, on basis of a six-page note left behind by her which mentioned that she was "heartbroken" in her relationship with him and fed up with his "womanising".