Jiah Khan case: Actor's mother accuses Salman of sabotaging investigation
Days after actor Sushant Singh Rajput's tragic death triggered discussions around nepotism and bullying in the film industry, late actor Jiah Khan's mother, Rabia Amin, levelled some serious allegations against superstar Salman Khan. Rabia accused Salman of influencing the investigation into her daughter's suicide case in 2015, and urged Bollywood to "wake up". Here's more on what she said.
Jiah, who acted in films like Nishabd and Ghajini, died by suicide at her residence in Mumbai's Juhu area on June 3, 2013. She was 25. Subsequently, the police recovered a suicide note, where Jiah spoke about her disturbed relationship with alleged boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi. Sooraj, son of actor Aditya Pancholi, was charged with abetment to suicide. However, the case remains unsolved till now.
In a video published by SpotboyE, Rabia conveyed condolences to Sushant's family. In light of the tragedy, she said, "Bollywood has to change. Bollywood has to wake up. Bollywood has to completely demolish bullying," adding that, "Bullying is also kind of killing somebody". She said that the incident has reminded her of her own daughter's suicide.
She alleged that Salman influenced the CBI's investigation into the case to protect Sooraj from plausible punishment. She claimed that a certain CBI officer told her, "Salman Khan calls me every day and says he has invested a lot of money, please don't harass the boy, please don't interrogate him, don't touch him. So what can we do, madame."
"If this is what is going to happen that you are going to pressurize and use your money and power to sabotage deaths and investigations, then I do not know where we citizens can go to," Rabia added. Concluding her statement, she made an appeal to "stand up, fight, protest, and stop this toxic behavior in Bollywood."
It should be noted that Salman was the producer of Sooraj's debut Bollywood film Hero, which released in 2015. The actor went on to star in Satellite Shankar, and currently has a film titled Time to Dance in the pipeline.
Recently, filmmaker Abhinav Kashyap also accused Salman and his family of sabotaging his career. Kashyap, who directed Salman-starrer Dabangg, said the Khan family bullied him, and interfered with the release of his other films as well. However, Salman's father Salim Khan rubbished these allegations, saying, "You watch his films first and then we'll talk." Salman's brother Arbaaz said they'll take legal action against Kashyap.
Meanwhile, a case has been filed against eight persons, including Salman, filmmaker Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor and others, in connection with Sushant's suicide case. The complainant alleged that Sushant was removed from seven films and some of his films were not released. "Such a situation was created which forced him to take the extreme step (sic)," the advocate told ANI.
