MUMBAI: A special court has allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to examine four unlisted prosecution witnesses in the 2012 murder of Sheena Bora–the jailors in whose presence the handwriting specimens and signatures of the accused, Indrani Mukerjea, Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai were collected.
On Thursday, the CBI had applied to the court asking for permission to examine the four jailors after one of the investigating officers in the case, Imran Aashique, admitted in his testimony that he had collected the handwriting samples and signatures in their presence.
The agency said it had accidentally forgotten to add the four jailors’ names to the list of additional witnesses. Advocate Ranjeet Sangle representing Mukerjea opposed the plea, saying that the witnesses are being brought in after the defence lawyers pointed out loopholes in the prosecution’s evidence. Sangle argued that by allowing additional witnesses the court was “grossly prejudicial” to the defence. He added that it would amount to unfair trial practices by the CBI.
Special judge JP Darekar, however, allowed the plea, and held, “In the interest of justice and for ensuring a fair trial, an opportunity needs to be given to the prosecution to examine the jailors in whose presence specimens were collected.”
Addressing the defence’s objections, the court said that the accused will also get an opportunity to cross examine the witnesses. The court added that the competency and impartiality of the witnesses will be decided after recording their evidence.
According to the prosecution, Sheena Bora–Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter from her earlier relationship, was allegedly strangled inside a car on April 24, 2012 by Mukerjea, a former media executive, with the help of her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai. The following day, the accused tried to destroy the body by burning it in a forested area of Pen tehsil of Raigad district.
The murder, however, came to light in 2015 when Rai was arrested for allegedly trying to dispose of an illegal weapon and during his interrogation he revealed details of the murder. Following his revelation, Mukerjea and Khanna were arrested in August 2015, while Peter Mukerjea, a former media mogul and then husband of Indrani, was taken into custody three months later.