Jiah Khan, who appeared in hit films such as Nishabd, Ghajini, and Housefull, was found dead in her Mumbai apartment in 2013, at the age of 25. Her death was ruled a suicide, but her mother, Rabiya, has maintained that she was murdered, and has pointed fingers at Jiah's boyfriend at the time, actor Sooraj Pancholi, who was named in a suicide note found by the authorities.
Noted news channel BBC has released a three-part investigative docuseries on late actor Jiah Khan's death. The series has been released only in the UK and feature three episodes under an hour. The first episode dropped on 11 January followed by the next two episodes over the next two days. The docuseries dives into the actress' demise case and the various theories that cropped up during the course of the investigation.
Sooraj Pancholi appeared in the second episode of the documentary series, in which he repeated that he is innocent. According to Metro, he said that he was with Jiah only for five months, and that she had confided in him about her history with depression. 'This is not a suicide, this is a murder,' Rabiya said in a clip from the series.
'I'm just telling the court, please find out who the murderer is, and acquit us from this abetment to suicide (charge),' Sooraj's father, Aditya Pancholi, said in a trailer for the series. 'According to her, this is not a suicide at all, so this is our case.'
In its review, The Telegraph noted that the series brings up several points about the case, such as Jiah's missing tracksuit, which she wore hours before being found dead; her inaccessible Blackberry, and certain ligature marks on her body. The review noted, '...seeing photographs of Jiah’s dead body felt voyeuristic. All the ingredients of a celebrity true-crime story were here, and viewing the show in those terms left me uneasy.'
The docuseries throws light on details of the case, Jiah's mother's strive for justice, unanswered questions and also features the Pancholi's. The series left many netizens upset as they took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the same. Sooraj Pancholi, who was first touted to be the prime suspect in the case, also faced flak on Twitter.