A special CBI court here on Friday acquitted actor Sooraj Pancholi, accused of abetting the suicide of his then actor girlfriend Jiah Khan in 2013, citing lack of evidence against him.

Sooraj Pancholi (32), who is currently out on bail, was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 306 (abetment of suicide). Jiah Khan's mother Rabia Khan had been refuting the prosecution's case that this was a case of suicide and claimed that her daughter was killed.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court judge A S Sayyad on Friday said due to lack of evidence, the court holds Pancholi not guilty.

Sooraj, the son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was present in the court with his mother at the time of the verdict.

Sooraj was arrested in the case in June 2013 and released on bail in July 2013.

Jiah (25), an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police later arrested Sooraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet.

In his final statement to the court on April 12, 2023, Sooraj Pancholi had said that he had been booked in a false case and that he was the victim of a false prosecution and persecution.

In that statement, he said he had broken down when he heard about Jiah's death and said, "I had lost the most important person of my life and the woman whom I truly loved."