‘Skeleton tested in 2015 isn’t Sheena’s’: Indrani claims in 5th bail application

The key contradiction as listed by Indrani is that the skeleton recovered by the Pen police in May 2012 is not the same one discovered by Khar police three years later in 2015.

Indrani, the prime accused in her daughter Sheena Bora’s murder case, has moved a fifth bail plea, alleging that false witnesses and evidence have been planted against her by the prosecution. She claimed that the body of ‘Sheena’ found in 2012, is different from the body exhumed by Khar police in 2015.

Indrani is the prime accused in Sheena Bora murder case (Bhushan Koyande / HT File)

Indrani has sent a handwritten plea from jail to the court seeking bail. In the last week of December, the court had rejected her bail plea filed on grounds of her deteriorating health. In her fresh plea, Indrani has claimed contradictions in the prosecution’s case.

The key contradiction as listed by Indrani is that the skeleton recovered by the Pen police in May 2012 is not the same one discovered by Khar police three years later in 2015. The prosecution has alleged that after removing parts of the skeleton for further investigation, the Pen police buried the body at the same place, in a pit. The same as per prosecution was exhumed by Khar police. The prosecution alleged that the body exhumed was that of Sheena as the DNA of the ‘skeleton’ is a match with Indrani.

“During the postmortem of the body allegedly found in Pen on May 23, 2012, PW (prosecution witness 52) Dr Sanjay Thakur made a circular cut on the cranium of the skull with a saw and the skull was opened to check brain matter, whereas the alleged skull exhumed on August 23, 2015, is intact with no cut,” she wrote in her plea.

She further cited the deposition of Thakur, who she claimed did not find any foul play or suspicious circumstances of the death when he examined the body. She has cited several contradictions of the forensic evidence and DNA tests conducted on the skeleton.

The prosecution has heavily relied on the evidence of approver – Indrani’s driver Shyamwar Rai – who was part of the conspiracy to murder Sheena and her sibling Mikhail Bora.

Indrani has claimed that Rai had memory loss during the cross-examination by the defense lawyers. She claimed, “’I cannot remember/I cannot recollect’ was recorded over 400 times during his deposition in the court,” Indrani claimed in her plea.