Actor Sooraj Pancholi, who was accused of abetting the suicide of actress Jiah Khan, had to spend 22 days in solitary confinement in 2013 at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, in the very cell that was once occupied by 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab, Sooraj said on the latest episode of Hindi Rush podcast.

“It’s all a blur. I was just 21 at the time,” Sooraj said on the podcast. “They sent me to Arthur Road Jail and put me in the ‘anda cell’ — solitary confinement. I was placed in the same cell where they had kept Kasab. They treated me like I had committed a bomb blast,” he continued.

At this time, Sooraj was seemingly asked to stop talking by his representatives. Looking at them off-camera, he said, “Let me talk, it’s the fact… It is what it is.”

The 34-year-old actor went on to recall the harsh conditions he had endured in the prison cell. “I had no pillow — just newspapers to sleep on. They treated me terribly, as if I had committed some heinous crime. I’m not exaggerating. It took me four to five years to even process what I had been through. It felt like a dream at that time,” he said.

“The CBI investigated the case… It was extremely difficult,” the actor added.

Sooraj, son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was arrested in June 2013 in connection with Jiah Khan’s death. The actress was found dead in her Juhu apartment, and a lengthy suicide note alleged physical and emotional abuse. In 2023, the CBI gave Sooraj a clean chit due to lack of evidence.

On the work front, Sooraj made his Bollywood debut alongside Athiya Shetty in the 2015 film Hero. He later starred in Time to Dance (2021) opposite Isabelle Kaif, sister of actress Katrina Kaif. He recently appeared in the historical action film Kesari Veer, directed by Prince Dhiman. The film also features Suniel Shetty, Vivek Oberoi, Barkha Bisht, Aruna Irani and Akanksha Sharma in key roles.