In the case of Jiah Khan’s death by suicide, a forensic expert has said that the actor’s partner Sooraj Pancholi is hiding information about the couple’s last argument. The expert recently testified before a special court that her analysis of Pancholi’s statement indicates that he was not willing to disclose the details of the altercation that may have led Jiah to take her own life.
The expert is a senior scientific officer serving at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Navi Mumbai.
She told the court that she holds a doctorate in psychology and a diploma in clinical psychology. She conducted a forensic statement analysis, a technique used to detect if a person is concealing information or if information given is true or false.
She added she had conducted a forensic statement analysis of this letter along with other notes of Jiah, the notes being probably the last material written by her.
An in-depth interview is conducted in which behavioural changes and body language is observed. She interviewed Pancholi on June 18, 2015, and has inferred that the statement given by him was “incomplete and fabricated on relevant issues”. She said it indicates that he was concealing relevant information about actual reasons behind the incident.
The expert said that Pancholi’s response was evasive and he became silent “with a bent head” when probed on why the relationship had turned nasty and come to a breaking point.
She said she had also analysed a letter written by Jiah to Pancholi, purportedly recovered from him during the probe. She added she had conducted a forensic statement of this letter along with other notes of Jiah, probably the last material written by her. These, the expert said, showed her “extreme negative thoughts and broken relationship with her partner or lover that might be the cause of suicide”.
In her cross examination, she said she had learnt from Pancholi that Jiah had undergone childhood trauma. She also said at another point that if a mental health patient is not treated on time, their situation may aggravate.
