Sheena Bora murder: Indrani Mukerjea is foreign national, can influence key witness, says CBI

Sheena Bora was killed in a moving car in Bandra in April 2012 and her body was dumped in Raigad district of Maharashtra.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opposed Indrani Mukerjea’s plea for interim bail for 45 days, saying the prime accused in the murder of Sheena Bora isn’t entitled to such relief as she is a British national.

Indrani became a British national after she married Peter Mukerjea, who held a British passport. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT)

Indrani, the mother of Sheena Bora, had approached the special CBI court through email to seek interim bail on the ground that the Coronavirus is spreading in prisons. The CBI said Indrani didn’t have any major health issues that could put her at risk of being infected by the virus.

CBI also said Indrani may influence key witnesses, who are yet to be examined by the prosecution in her trial, if she is released on bail.

Indrani became a British national after she married Peter Mukerjea, who held a British passport.

Sheena Bora was killed in a moving car in Bandra in April 2012 and her body was dumped in Raigad district of Maharashtra. The case was detected by Khar police in 2015 after Peter Mukerjea’s driver was arrested with a pistol near Carter Road in Bandra.

The agency has said it has sufficient material to prove the charges against Indrani, including statements from Shyamwar Rai, Kajal Sharma, Mikhail Bora, and Rahul Mukerjea, and scientific evidence.

CBI said the gravity of the allegations, Indrani’s alleged role in the commission of the crime, and clinching evidence on record against her do not entitle her to get even temporary bail, according to the decision of the high-power committee Bombay high court which is looking after the process of release of prisoners from jail on interim bail to decongest the jails in the state.

Indrani had said her request for interim bail was pending in the special court for arguments by the CBI and the final order. “Given the increasing numbers of Covid positive cases in the state, there is no certainty as to when there could be a hearing for bail (merits) and/or trial,” she had said.

She had also requested the court to decide on her plea filed last December that alleged false witnesses and evidence planted by the prosecution were being used against her.