Jiah Khan suicide case: Court acquits actor Sooraj Pancholi
Mumbai (PTI): A special CBI court here on Friday acquitted actor Sooraj Pancholi, accused of abetting the suicide of his then actor girlfriend Jiah Khan in 2013, citing lack of evidence against him.
Sooraj Pancholi (32), who is currently out on bail, was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 306 (abetment of suicide). Jiah Khan's mother Rabia Khan had been refuting the prosecution's case that this was a case of suicide and claimed that her daughter was killed.
Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court judge A S Sayyad on Friday said due to lack of evidence, the court holds Pancholi not guilty.
Sooraj, the son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was present in the court with his mother at the time of the verdict.
Sooraj was arrested in the case in June 2013 and released on bail in July 2013.
Jiah (25), an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police later arrested Sooraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet.
In his final statement to the court on April 12, 2023, Sooraj Pancholi had said that he had been booked in a false case and that he was the victim of a false prosecution and persecution.
In that statement, he said he had broken down when he heard about Jiah's death and said, "I had lost the most important person of my life and the woman whom I truly loved."
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ICICI Bank trims hike, lowers min balance requirement to Rs 15,000 from Rs 50,000
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI): In a U-turn, ICICI Bank has slashed the minimum monthly average balance (MAB) requirement to Rs 15,000 from Rs 50,000, citing "valuable feedback" from customers.
The minimum balance requirement for its new savings bank accounts opened on or after August 1 was recently raised five times to Rs 50,000.
"Following valuable feedback from our customers, we have revised these requirements to better reflect their expectations and preferences. We thank our customers for their continued trust and feedback, which help us serve them better," ICICI Bank posted on its website.
Similarly, the MAB for semi-urban and rural locations has been revised downwards to Rs 7,500 and Rs 2,500 respectively, it said.
Before August 1, the MAB for semi-urban and rural was Rs 5,000.
However, the bank said the revised MAB requirements are not applicable to salary accounts, senior citizens/pensioners (above 60 years), basic savings bank deposit account/PM Jandhan Yojana, and accounts for people with special needs.
They are also not applicable to savings accounts opened before July 31, 2025.
MAB is the minimum balance that a customer is required to maintain in a bank account. If the balance falls below the required amount, the bank levies a penalty.
In case account holders fail to meet the MAB, customers will be liable to pay penal charges of 6 per cent of the shortfall in required MAB, or Rs 500, whichever is lower.
The balance in the savings bank account of ICICI Bank earns an interest of 2.5 per cent per annum, it said.
The hike in MAB comes at a time when public sector banks have rationalised their penalties or completely waived them.
