The judicial custody of Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai was today extended by a local magistrate till October 31 in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case.
Magistrate NB Shinde extended the trio’s remand for 12 days after it came to an end today. None of the accused were produced in court. “The court has extended their judicial custody till October 31,” said defense lawyer Shreyansh Mithare. Mithare also said that Rai has written a letter to the court saying that he wants to reveal something to the court in person. The court may issue production warrant for him later in the day.
On September 7, a fortnight after their arrest and prolonged interrogation, the court had remanded Indrani and her driver Shyam Rai to judicial custody till September 21, which was later extended till October 5. A day after on September 8, Khanna too was remanded in judicial custody.
Indrani, Khanna and Rai have been arrested on the charge of murdering Sheena and disposing off her body in a Raigad forest in April 2012. The police had exhumed remains of a body from Raigad forest and later claimed that digital superimposition of the profile of Sheena had matched with the skull recovered from the forest.
The police have also extensively grilled Indrani’s husband Peter Mukerjea, though he is not an accused in the case. Others questioned in connection with the case include Peter’s son Rahul Mukherjea and Vidhie, daughter of Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna.
The police have also questioned Siddharth Das, biological father of Sheena and Mikhail Bora. 24-year-old Sheena was allegedly strangled in a car, then her body was burnt and dumped at a forest in Raigad, about 84 kms from Mumbai.
Last month, the Maharashtra government decided to transfer the Sheena Bora murder probe to CBI after days of uncertainty on the supervisory role of former Mumbai police chief Rakesh Maria, who was shunted in the midst of the inquiry that he had helmed proactively. The decision for a probe free from “prejudices” was announced at a press conference on September 18 by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi, who said that financial angle of the case has also been taken into account in transferring the probe to the central investigation agency.
Ahmad Javed, a DG-rank officer, was posted in place of Maria, who was promoted as DG (Home Guards). On October 2, Indrani was rushed to the JJ Hospital from Byculla womens’ prison in an unconscious state, fuelling speculation that she had overdosed on anti-depressant drugs accumulated beyond prescribed quantity.
Later, laboratory tests of urine samples came out with conflicting reports on this aspect.
Subsequently, the probe conducted by Inspector General (prisons) had rejected the possibility of drug overdose, poisoning or suicide bid. The officer concluded that her condition could have worsened as she had briefly stopped taking medicines and was suffering from weakness.
On October 6, the 43-year-old was discharged and sent back to jail. A day later, a local court allowing a CBI plea, granted the agency 12 days permit to quiz all the three accused in the case.
( Source – PTI )
