Jiah suicide: Sooraj in judicial custody till June 27

A Mumbai court Thursday sent Sooraj Pancholi, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, to judicial custody till June 27 on charges of abetting the suicide of actress Nafisa alias Jiah Khan, who used the word "rape" in a six-page letter.

Shortly after the court decision, Sooraj's lawyer Zamir Khan said he would move a bail plea in a sessions court. Sooraj was arrested Monday.

Sooraj, 22, was presented in the court at the end of his three days' police custody.

Public prosecutor A.K. Panchrane sought more time for questioning Sooraj in police custody to unravel details on Jiah's suicide, especially since he (Sooraj) had allegedly deleted all mobile records of SMSes and MMSes sent by the late actress.

The police needed to retrieve these SMSes and MMSes to investigate the angle of abetment of suicide, he said.

Panchrane said Jiah had written the word "rape" in her six-page letter to Sooraj and police wanted to probe this issue.

The letter found by her family three days after her death spoke of her strained relationship with Sooraj and how she was deeply hurt as she had to abort their baby, police said.

Rejecting the plea for extending police custody and instead granting judicial custody, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Jadhav said that Sooraj would be lodged in the Arthur Road Central Jail.

Sooraj's arrest came June 10 soon after a letter penned by Jiah was recovered by her family who handed it over to police last week.

In the six-page letter, Jiah also mentioned about her abortion, and the investigators have recovered from her servants two more letters, the details of which they were probing, police said.

Arguing against extending the police remand of Sooraj, Khan pointed out that police had already recorded statements of 27 witnesses, including Jiah's family members and Sooraj's domestic help.

Jiah ended her life by hanging herself at her Juhu home June 3.