Probe needed to see if Sheezan Khan deceived more girls: Court

Actor Sheezan Khan, who is in jail for allegedly abetting the suicide of co-actor Tunisha Sharma, had not cooperated during custodial interrogation, had deleted some WhatsApp chats and was also in a position to threaten material witnesses if released on bail, a court in Maharashtra's Palghar has said.

The details of the Vasai court's January 13 order rejecting the bail plea of Khan was made available on Thursday.

The order also said "just prior to the alleged incident, something appeared to have been happened between them in the make-up room of applicant, which forced her to commit suicide".

Sharma was found hanging on the sets of a television serial on December 24, 2022, and Khan was held the next day for abetment of suicide. He is in judicial custody at present and had approached the court for bail.

Additional sessions judge RD Deshpande, in his order, said, "During custodial interrogation, according to the prosecution, the applicant (Khan) did not cooperate and did not tell anything about the dialogue between him and deceased from 2pm to 2:45pm (on the day of the incident) and that is the main cause in the commission of suicide by deceased Tunisha."

The court said the investigation into the death was in progress, and it was a "matter of concern for the prosecution that the applicant has deleted WhatsApp chats and messages between him, the deceased and his friends".

The mobile phones of Khan and Sharma had been sent to the forensic laboratory in Mumbai for retrieval of deleted messages, and it also needs to be probed if the accused had deceived more girls in a similar fashion, the court order said.

The order also said the witnesses in the case were co-stars of Khan, who is the main character in the serial, and "it is likely if he comes out at this stage that he is likely to threaten the material witnesses from telling the truth to the police".

The applicant can cause "disturbance in the investigation" and "serious prejudice would be caused to the prosecution" if he is given bail as statements of material witnesses were yet to be recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the order said.

"Under such circumstances and to give reasonable and proper opportunity for carrying out a fair investigation to the prosecution, applicant needs to be behind the bars for some more period," the judge said in the order.

The order said the accused kept "relations with her for a period of two months and immediately broke up such relationship".

As per the court's order, the deceased followed Khan to the main gate of the studio (where the serial was being shot) at 2:45pm and then returned and hanged herself in the make-up room.

One chit has also been recovered during the course of the investigation, on which the name of the applicant was written in English along with the words, 'he is blessed to have me a coactor woohooo', the order rejecting Khan's bail said.