A special court has ordered the CBI to speed up the trial into actor Jiah Khan’s death.
Khan passed away by suicide in 2013, aged 25. Since then, her estranged boyfriend, Sooraj Pancholi has been accused of abetting the suicide.
On Friday, Pancholi argued that the prosecution was purposefully prolonging the case and rejected the CBI’s request for an adjournment.
The court said, “The prosecution is hereby directed to expedite the trial by calling the rest of the witnesses without fail.”
Pancholi stated in the application that 19 witnesses have already been questioned in the ongoing case.
Pancholi’s lawyer Prashant Patil told ETimes, “It is very unfortunate that the CBI is intentionally playing delaying tactics in the trial of Sooraj Pancholi Versus CBI. If the accused is guilty, he would be convicted of the offense, but if he is innocent then should be acquitted. However, the record of the Honourable Special CBI Court reflects that CBI has been only delaying the trial. It’s unfortunate that Sooraj Pancholi has to face a trial wherein there are intentional delaying tactics played, while the media had no patience for awaiting the final outcome of proceedings.”
