Couldn’t determine exact cause of Sheena Bora’s death: Forensic expert to Mumbai court

A forensic expert from Nair Hospital on Friday told a special court that they could not determine the exact cause of death for Sheena Bora or confirm strangulation,

A forensic expert from Nair Hospital on Friday told a special court that they could not determine the exact cause of death for Sheena Bora or confirm strangulation, owing to the absence of crucial parts — the laryngeal cartilages and hyoid bone.

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The court recorded the testimony of SC Mohite, prosecution witness no 58, head of department of forensic medicine, Nair Hospital. The prosecution concluded the examination and Mohite would next be cross-examined by the defence. In 2015, when the 2012 murder case of Bora came to light, her burnt remains were sent to experts at Nair Hospital to determine the cause of death and other evidences.

According to the prosecution’s case, Bora’s mother Indrani Mukerjea and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamwar Rai, strangled her in the car on April 24, 2012. It is alleged that the body was later dumped into a bag and kept overnight in the garage and set on fire in Pen village the next day. The remains were first found in May 2012.

During Mohite’s deposition, the prosecution exhibited all remains of Bora, which were first recovered by the Pen police in 2012 and Khar police in 2015.

Mohite was one of the experts to have examined the bones and opined that those were human bones and all the bones belonged to a woman, between the ages of 22 and 25 years, and that her height was between 154 and 160cm. They had later removed the teeth for DNA profiling.