Jiah's death leaves many questions unanswered

Jiah Khan's death story is getting murkier by the day. Rabia, Jiah's mother claims to be in possession of a forensic report which states that there no fingerprints of the deceased in the room in which she hanged herself.

Intriguingly, the objects like the fan from which Jiah was found hanging, a water bottle she frequently used had no finger prints. The air-conditioned room's sliding window, which was found open despite the AC being on.

The Juhu police handed over this document, to Rabia this Monday, which was prepared by an expert who had collected fingerprints from the spot. The prints were gathered between 12.30 pm and 1.15 pm on June 4, the day after Jiah was found dead.

Another document - a DNA report of the human tissues and blood found in Jiah's fingernail clippings, blood found on the mattress in the room where she was found dead and blood found in an adjoining room - has also been handed over to Rabia.This report, dated November 22, says all the samples belonged to Jiah - including the blood found in the adjoining room.

Rabia has sent these reports and other related documents to an independent forensic expert for analysis and a report is expected in a few days. However, Rabia's advocate Dinesh Tiwari said he will bring these points to the notice of Andheri Metropolitan Court, which is hearing Rabia's application seeking the exhumation of Jiah's body. The court is likely to hear Rabia's application today.

Tiwari also cited the findings to question the credibility of the police investigation. "How is it that the fan, water bottle and open window do not have any fingerprints at all - including Jiah's own? This clearly shows someone has cleaned the site of offence," he said.

He added this also supported Rabia's contention that someone could have entered the first floor apartment from the building's entrance ledge, which is very close to the open window.

On the DNA reports, Tiwari said after having raised the issue that blood and human tissues found in Jiah's nail clippings indicated a struggle before she died, the police now say the blood and human tissues belonged to Jiah. "Where are the corresponding injury marks on Jiah's body? The post-mortem report does not note any such injury marks," he said.

Tiwari further questioned the finding that Jiah's blood was found even in the adjoining room. "How can that happen? It is no one's case that Jiah had any cut marks on her body. Then how is it that her blood was found in the adjoining room? This clearly shows that something had happened in that particular room," he said.