Sheena Bora murder: Approver recognises his signature, but can’t read own ‘English’ confession

Pasbola asked Rai how long he was in police custody and if the Khar police had a written record of his interrogation during the 14 days that he had spent in custody.

Shyamwar Rai, approver in the Sheena Bora murder case, could recognise his signature, but not the contents of his confessional statement in court on Friday.

Sheena Bora (HT)

When defence advocate Sudeep Pasbola, handed him the application to turn approver, Rai said he could not read English and so could not understand the document. He, however,said the letter bore his signature.

Defence lawyer Sudeep Pasbola continued to cross-examine Rai. The key witness, however, stuck to answering, “I do not remember” to most questions.

Pasbola asked Rai how long he was in police custody and if the Khar police had a written record of his interrogation during the 14 days that he had spent in custody.

“The police used to record in writing,” Rai answered. However, when asked if he told the police about his decision to confess, he said, “I have not said that I want to confess.”

Rai told the court that he had applied to the court to be moved from Arthur Road prison to Thane prison but did not remember the date of the application.

Answering another question, Rai said Khar police officers did not visit him in Arthur Road jail to question him. When asked if CBI officers did so, he answered in the affirmative.

He further answered Pasbola’s question and said he did not remember the date. ”After some days, when I was in jail, CBI officers came to meet me.” He said he only remembered the name of one CBI officer — KK Singh. Pasbola then asked him to identify the other officer in court. The CBI officer identified himself as Santosh Kumar Rai.

The defence further grilled him about a letter he wrote to the metropolitan magistrate on September 26, 2015 but Rai said he did not remember when he wrote that letter and his intention was to “tell the truth”. When asked if he wrote a similar letter in the arms act case, he denied.

The lawyer asked him if the court had informed him about the conditions of becoming an approver, Rai said he could not recollect if it had.

The cross-examination will continue on Monday.