Boyfriend in custody over Jiah suicide

Suraj Pancholi sits inside a police vehicle on his way to a court in Mumbai yesterday.

AFP/Mumbai

A court remanded the boyfriend of late Bollywood actress Jiah Khan in custody yesterday over accusations that his behaviour had helped drive her to commit suicide.

Suraj Pancholi, a 22-year-old aspiring actor, was brought before a court in Mumbai after police arrested him on Monday for “abetment to commit suicide,” a week after his girlfriend’s body was discovered at her home.

Additional Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangre-Patil said the charge was based on the contents of a suicide note found at Khan’s Mumbai home and from a statement by her mother.

Pancholi was remanded in custody by the court until June 13. Khan, who made her debut starring opposite acting legend Amitabh Bachchan, was found dead in an apparent suicide on June 3.

The 25-year-old’s parents found a suicide note in her wallet which reports said contained details of her troubled relationship with Pancholi.

Khan, born in New York before moving to London and then Mumbai, made her Bollywood debut in 2007 with the controversial film Nishabd, playing a teenager in love with her best friend’s much older father, played by Bachchan.