In a breather for Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi, the Bombay high court on Thursday directed CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to give him back his passport. Sooraj is facing charges of abetting actor Jiah Khan’s suicide, and had approached the high court seeking that his passport be returned so that he could travel abroad.

Justice Mridula Bhatkar, while hearing Sooraj’s plea, directed him to give an undertaking to the trial court that he would seek permission from it whenever he wanted to travel abroad pending trial and he would also submit his passport to the trial court as and when asked. Sooraj had filed an application before the high court through his lawyer, Prashant Patil, saying that he wanted to travel abroad to fulfill his professional commitments. Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar, on behalf of CBI, had opposed Sooraj’s plea saying that Jiah’s mother, Rabiya Khan, had filed a petition in the high court, which is pending before a division bench. In her petition, Ms Khan had alleged that her daughter was murdered and had sought permission for a foreign investigating agency to assist in the investigation. The request for a foreign investigating agency was made because Jiah was a US national and died outside the US under suspicious circumstances.

However, Justice Bhatkar said that this application did not come in the way of deciding Sooraj’s appeal. While granting permission to return the passport, the judge also observed that the passport is not part of evidence in this case. The investigating agency had confiscated Sooraj’s passport on the basis of directions issued by the high court on July 1, 2013, to ensure presence of accused during trial.

Jiah allegedly committed suicide on June 3, 2013, by hanging herself from a ceiling fan ta her suburban Juhu residence. Sooraj was arrested on June 10 for abetting her suicide, but was released on July 2 after the high court granted him bail.