The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday informed the Bombay high court that its team had ruled out murder in actor Jiah Khan case. "The CBI has no reason to protect the accused (actor Sooraj Pancholi) in the case," Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told a division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Prakash Naik. The high court said it will decide on the plea by Jiah's mother Rabia Khan on August 23 and continued its interim stay on the trial against Sooraj, Jiah's boyfriend. Rabia had claimed that her daughter was murdered and sought the transfer of the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

The CBI said that as per its investigations, the cause of Jiah's death was "suicide by hanging". The theory proposed by her mother that someone had entered the flat from an open window and the distance between the fan and the floor did not support the case of suicide has been dispelled by the CBI. The agency said there was no proof to show that someone could have entered the flat. The marks on Jiah's neck could be caused by the dupatta which she had used to hang herself, especially while removing the multiple knots, the CBI said. The ASG said that the medical board had concluded that "suicide could not be ruled out". Further, the CBI had recorded statements of people who had met Sooraj that day, as well as the domestic helps, and pored through the CCTV footage.

Jiah was found hanging from her ceiling of her residence on June 3, 2013, and Sooraj was charged with driving her to commit suicide. The high court had transferred the case to the CBI after Rabia approached the court claiming her daughter was murdered. In December 2015, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Sooraj for abetting Jiah's suicide. Rabia then moved the high court again alleging the CBI had not looked at crucial evidence.