The trial for Jiah Khan’s suicide case started at a sessions court in Mumbai today. Sooraj Pancholi, Jiah Khan’s live-in partner, was framed with charges of abetting suicide of Jiah Khan and was present at the hearing today. However, Jiah’s mother Rabiya Khan and her lawyer did not show up.

“The case was getting delayed each time. It’s been almost five years and nothing was progressing. So, the actor and his lawyer Prashant Patil requested the court to frame the charges so that the hearings would begin. Time and again, Rabiya (Khan) has been delaying the whole case. On Wednesday, although Sooraj and his lawyer reached the court for the hearing, neither Rabiya nor her lawyer was present,” said a source close to Pancholi.

Jiah was a Bollywood actress who worked in films like Nishabd and Ghajini. She was found hanging in her Juhu apartment after she hung herself from a ceiling fan on June 03, 2013. The suicide note left by Jiah revealed the reason to be recent abortion which brought Sooraj Pancholi in the case. The case looked like a suicide but Jiah’s mother Rabiya got it independently investigated by British forensic expert Jason Payne James who concluded that “it is not just suicide”.

The case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation on Rabiya Khan’s petition. The case was awaiting trial for five years. The next hearing is scheduled on February 21.