The Central Bureau of Investigation has examined Sooraj Pancholi, the son of film actor Aditya Pancholi, in connection with the mysterious death of actor Jiah Khan in 2013. CBI sources told PTI that Pancholi is likely to be called again for examination. They said that his father Aditya Pancholi was also examined on May 13 this year, when the agency carried out searches at his residence.

The sources said that the agency is also probing criminal conspiracy angle in the death of Jiah, who shot to fame after her performance in the Amitabh Bachchan-starer Nishabd.

After the British-Indian actor was found dead in her apartment, Jiah's mother had alleged that Sooraj was in a relationship with the actress and should be probed for the death of her daughter. She had also alleged that Jiah's death was not suicide. The case had come to the CBI last year, following the orders of the Bombay High Court, which had directed the agency to probe whether the death was a suicide or homicide on plea of Jiah's mother Rabia.

"The High Court has directed the CBI to consider whether this is a case of suicidal or homicidal death. If the CBI comes to a conclusion that it is a homicidal death, then further probe is to be made to find out who is the perpetrator of the crime. Accordingly, action is to be taken," CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad had said after the registration of the case.

She said that the Mumbai Police have already filed a charge sheet on January 11, 2014, against a person under section 306 (abatement of suicide) of the IPC. Explaining the reasons for transferring the case to CBI, the bench had said that forensic opinion privately obtained by Khan's mother Rabia were at variance with those with the Mumbai Police, suggesting that there was a "lacuna" in the investigation.

Jiah, also known as Nafisa, the 25-year-old British-American actor, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her Juhu home on June 3, 2013. Her relationship with actor Sooraj Pancholi, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was under the scanner after Rabia's allegations that Sooraj had a hand in Jiah's death. Rabia had also alleged that her daughter's relationship with Sooraj was under strain, and it was suspected that it drove her to end her life.