The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, against a ruling denying her permission to travel abroad.  A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal directed the trial court to conduct the proceedings in the case within a year and upheld the Bombay High Court order refusing her plea. "There is no guarantee that you will come back. Trial is at an advanced stage. Taking into consideration the fact that the trial is ongoing, we are not inclined to consider the request at this stage. We direct the trial court to expedite the hearing and conclude within a year," it said.

Indrani is also an Accused turned Approver in the INX Media bribery case. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and son Karti are accused in this case filed by CBI and ED. Indrani confessed before the court that she gave bribes to Karti linked firms to get saved from Income Tax and FDI violations.  Opposing the permission, the CBI counsel said it was a sensitive matter and the trial had reached halfway with the examination of 96 witnesses.

The counsel for Mukerjea, a former media executive, submitted she was given bail by the top court and 92 witnesses still remained to be examined in the case. She said the trial court was vacant for the last four months and the proceedings could take a long time to conclude.

The travel restriction matter came up in the Supreme Court after a special court on July 19 allowed Mukerjea's plea to visit Spain and the United Kingdom for 10 days over the next three months.The Bombay High Court however set aside the order on September 27 after the CBI filed an appeal.  Mukerjea moved the apex court against the high court order. In her plea, filed through advocate Sana Raees Khan, Mukerjea said she was a British citizen as she sought permission to visit Spain and her home country for "making necessary changes and amendments and taking care of pending work which cannot be transacted without her personal presence".