Ahead of the CBI formally taking over investigations into the Sheena Bora murder case, a city court on Monday extended the judicial custody of the three accused till October 5.
On a day when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the CBI had “accepted” the Government’s request to investigate the murder case, the three accused —Indrani Mukherjea (43) her second husband Sanjeev Khanna (50) and driver Shyamvar Rai (43) were produced before a Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate through a video-conferencing.
Owing to the heavy security arrangements made across the metropolis as part of the 10-day Ganesh festivities, the police chose not to produce the three accused before the court physically. Instead, the investigators produced the three accused, lodged in different jails, before the court through a video-conferncing.
The Magistrate remanded the three accused in further custody for a fortnight.
In a related development, the Chief Minister said the CBI had agreed to take over the investigations into the case, which involved “financial angle”.
Talking to mediapersons here, Fadnavis said: “Before we sent them (the Centre) a request to take over the investigation into the case, we had informal conversations with Centre and CBI officers. They have now agreed to take up the investigation in the case... A notification transferring the case to the CBI may have been issued by now.”
Defending the State Government’s decision to transfer the case to the CBI, Fadnavis said since there were “many financial transactions involved”, the Government felt it would be easier for CBI to probe the various aspects involved in the case.