Rabia Khan, the mother of deceased actress Jiah Khan, has revealed that film director Mahesh Bhatt had tried to intimidate her during the funeral of her daughter, reported India Today. Jiah Khan, the actress of Ghajini fame had died by suicide on June 3 in 2013.
Her death was re-confirmed as a suicide in 2016 following an extensive investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a hearing at the Bombay High Court. Khan’s mother continued to claim that Jiah Khan had been murdered by her boyfriend, actor Sooraj Pancholi, leading the prosecution to make a failed attempt to lay charges of murder and sexual assault in 2017. On 31 January 2018, nearly five years after her death, a court in Mumbai charged Pancholi with abetting Khan’s suicide. The case has not yet been settled.
Mahesh Bhatt is Bollywood mafia’s mouthpiece, claims Rabia Khan
Rabia Khan said that Mahesh Bhatt had tried to convince her that Jiah Khan was mentally depressed at her funeral. However, when she refuted his claims, the director said, “Tum chup hojao varna tumhe bhi injection deke sula dege (Shut up or else you will also be put to sleep forever using an injection).” Further accusing Mahesh Bhatt of being a ‘mouthpiece’ of Bollywood mafia, Rabia Khan emphasised, “He is so pathetic that I have no words to express. He was intimidating when my daughter worked for him at the age of 16.”
Rabia Khan hopes for justice, lambasts Sooraj Pancholi
Following the untimely death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Rabia Khan had drawn similarities between the death of the actor and her daughter on social media. Hitting out at Sooraj Pancholi, she said, “He used to beat my daughter. The Police were pressurised by the Bollywood mafia so much that a Bollywood icon (referring to Salman Khan) said that don’t interrogate him, leave him alone, we are launching him.”
Rabia informed how Sooraj brainwashed Jiah Khan to return to India, allegedly under the pretext of his operation. “My daughter never lied or hid things from me but after meeting Sooraj, she started hiding things from me,” she added. Accusing the law enforcement of helping the accused, she lamented how talented people were killed in Bollywood. “I feel hopeless that police is supporting the mafia and wrong people…People use money and power to tamper the investigation.”