Courtroom drama: Indrani and Peter have a heated exchange

Indrani Bora and Peter Mukerjea, both lodged in jails for their alleged role in the murder of Sheena Bora, had a heated exchange of words in the special Central

Indrani Bora and Peter Mukerjea, both lodged in jails for their alleged role in the murder of Sheena Bora, had a heated exchange of words in the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday, her birthday, so much so that their lawyers had to advise them not to interact with each other.

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The prosecution on Friday examined professor SK Tripathi, an expert from the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), who conducted superimposition of Sheena’s photograph and skull exhumed by the Khar police in 2015. After the hearing, Indrani’s lawyer Gunjan Mangla and Peter’s lawyer Viral Babar apprised the court on the altercation.

Mangla told the court that when the two were sitting in accused box, Peter said something to Indrani, which led to an altercation. The lawyers, however, did not reveal what Peter said. The two told the court they have asked their clients not to interact with each other.

The special judge, too, agreed: “They are represented by big lawyers. Why should they interact? Now their relation is also not in existence... They shouldn’t do this.”

This is not the first time the estranged couple Indrani and Peter had an argument in public. The two had several verbal spats during negotiations over their matrimonial dispute. They were granted divorce on October 3 last year.

Meanwhile, Tripathi demonstrated how the software of superimposition works. He told the court he was given several pictures of Sheena of which four were fed into the system.

Later, the picture of the skull, exhumed by Khar police in 2015, was uploaded on the system. Through the software, they matched the key features and confirmed that it was Sheena’s skull.

The CBI had approached AIIMS’ experts for identification of the skull. In his report, Tripathi said, “All four sets of photographs used for superimposition, all landmarks and facial characteristics, along with teeth superimposition, were found correctly matching, which helped in establishment of complete physical/personal identification of the said

victim with the help of provided skull.” Defence lawyers will cross-examine Tripathi on Tuesday.