Court rejects Indrani’s plea to personally cross-examine Rahul Mukerjea

Indrani had pleaded that her advocate had an extremely busy schedule and said that she may not be available for the entire day to attend this hearing.

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Tuesday rejected the plea filed by former media executive Indrani Mukerjea seeking permission to personally cross-examine Rahul Mukerjea, son of her ex-husband Peter Mukerjea from his first wife.

Indrani Mukerjea leaves Sessions Court after the hearing in the Sheena Bora murder case, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, June 17. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

Indrani, who is being tried for allegedly killing her daughter Sheena Bora and disposing of the body, had on June 22 moved a formal plea pleading that she be allowed to personally cross-examine Rahul Mukerjea, four days after Rahul’s examination-in-chief was over.

While rejecting Indrani’s plea, special judge SP Naik observed, “Indrani is involved in a case having provision for capital punishment if proved guilty, in such case she cannot be allowed to cross examine the witness by herself as she has been represented by a lawyer already.”

Indrani had pleaded that her advocate had an extremely busy schedule and said that she may not be available for the entire day to attend this hearing. “In her absence, I want to exercise my right (to cross-examine the witness on her own) so that the trial is not delayed,” she had pleaded before the court.

The court had, however, raised questions on her decision, and on Tuesday rejected her plea. The detailed order would be released later on.

According to the prosecution, Indrani and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna had allegedly kidnapped Bora — Indrani’s daughter from a previous relationship — on April 24, 2012, from Bandra, strangulated her in a car driven by Shyamwar Rai, also an accused in the case who subsequently turned approver.

They then allegedly disposed of the body in a forest near Gagode village on Pen-Khopoli road in the neighbouring Raigad district the following day.

Although Bora’s remains were discovered by local police within days, the plot to murder her only came to light only on August 21, 2015, when the Khar police arrested Rai for another crime. During his interrogation, Rai revealed details pertaining to Bora’s murder following which a murder case was registered and the police also apprehended Indrani and Khanna.

The CBI took over the investigation in September 2015, and arrested Indrani’s husband Peter Mukerjea, claiming that he was part of the conspiracy to kill Bora. CBI investigators said that Peter and Indrani were unhappy about Bora’s relationship with Rahul, Peter’s son from a previous marriage.