Amid a sensation sought to be created by the electronic media over the purported telephonic conversations between the key accused in the Sheena Bora murder case Indrani her husband Peter and his son Rahul, a special court on Friday directed the CBI to begin its arguments at the earliest on framing charges against the accused in the case.
While directing the prosecution to begin its arguments on framing of charges, Special CBI Judge HS Mahajan said, “The prosecutor can argue on framing of charges provided the interest of defense is safeguarded. I will expedite the trial”.
On a day when the special court extended the judicial custody of Indrani and Peter till September 13, the CBI took strong exception to some media channel airing leaked tapes of purported telephonic conversations between Rahul and his father Peter on one hand and Rahul and his stepmother Indrani on the other.
The CBI submitted to the special court that there should not be a "parallel trial" of the case by the media, a contention the Judge dismisses by saying no one was taking the media reports seriously. The Judge, however, made it clear that none of the parts of the purported tapes on the murder case were leaked from the court.
Earlier, Special Public prosecutors Bharat Badami and Kavita Patil told the court that the prosecution was ready to open the case in support of framing of charges. “We are ready to start the trial,” they said.
Peter’s lawyer Mihir Gheewala moved an application before the court that the CBI be directed to take all necessary steps to prevent the potential evidence and material produced by CBI in its charge sheet from being used in the media without permission of the court.
Gheewala told the court that the tapes are a vital evidence (in the case) and the manner in which it was aired on a (news) channel, the witnesses could be directly affected. “It should not cause any prejudice to the witnesses,” Gheewala told the court.
In a related development, the CBI stated that certain taped conversations being aired by television channels had already been investigated and they were an “integral part’ of its charge sheets in the case.
Reacting to the taped conversations being aired or referred to in certain news channels, CBI spokesperson said: “All the audio recordings form an integral part of the charge sheets filed by CBI in court against Peter Mukherjea, Indrani Mukerjea and others on November 19, 2015 and February 16, 2016. Hence, these audio recordings are relied upon materials in the charge sheets and already submitted in the court. The court has taken cognisance of the same”.
It may be recalled that Rahul Mukherjea, son of Peter Mukherjea from his first marriage, had himself handed over to the Mumbai police the tapes of conversations he had with his father and step mother Indrani, after both were arrested in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case. The Mumbai police had subsequently handed over all the tapes to the CBI, which is currently investigating the case.
The purported tapes seek to establish that both Indrani and Peter were covering up the mysterious disappearance and murder of Sheena. The tapes also seeks to nail the stand taken by Peter that he was not aware of Sheena’s murder.
In most of the tapes, Rahul is heard confronting Peter and Indrani about the whereabouts of Sheena and expressing apprehension as to whether something was wrong with her.
In the tapes, Indrani tells Rahul that Sheea was in touch with one Nishant Khurana of New Delhi, who is believed to be fictitious character introduced allegedly by Indrani to befool Rahul.
In one of the conversations, both Peter and Indrani both tell Rahul to move on and forget about Sheena, hinting that she may have left the country and settled down abroad.
In yet another conversation, Indrani is heard telling Rahul that she was approached by the HR personnel of the company that Sheena worked for. She says that the HR person told her about Sheena having taken a leave.
Sheena was daughter of Indrani from her first live in partner Siddhartha Das. Incidentally, Sheena was in a live-in relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, the son of Peter Mukherjea – a relationship which the CBI has stated in its affidavit both Indrani and Peter disapproved.
Indrani was arrested on August 25, 2015 for her alleged role in the murder of her daughter Sheena. A day later, Indrani's former husband Sanjeev Khanna was arrested from Kolkata.
The CBI – which took over the investigations into the Sheena Bora murder case from the Mumbai police on September 29 – had on November 19, 2015 filed a comprehensive charge-sheet, running into 1,000-odd pages, against Indrani, her former husband Khanna and driver Rai. On that same evening, the CBI arrested Peter Mukherjea in connection with the sensational crime.
Initially, there were four accused in the Sheena Bora murder case – Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, her driver Shyamvar Rai and Peter Mukherjea. Of them, Rai was granted pardon and made an approver in the case on June 20, 2016.
It may be recalled that Indrani and other two arrested accused – Sanjeev and Rai – had allegedly “kidnapped” Sheena between 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm on April 24, 2012, from Bandra (west) in their car. She was allegedly strangulated in the car on the same evening and that on the following morning they carried the body of the deceased packed in a bag (which had they kept in the rear side of the car) to the jungles Gogade Khurd village off the Khopoli-Pen Road, where they doused the bag with petrol and set it on fire.
The CBI told the high court that Peter was in touch with all the accused prior to the murder, the day on which the murder took place and even after that.
"On 24 April, 2012, when Indrani messaged Sheena asking her to meet her, Indrani was in constant touch with Peter. After sending messages to Sheena, Indrani used to call Peter and speak at length. Even on the day when Indrani and Rai went to Raigad to dispose of Sheena's body, Peter and Indrani were in constant touch," the CBI affidavit said.
In its affidavit, the CBI also told the high court that Rahul used to inquire with Peter about Sheena's whereabouts after she disappeared all of a sudden without informing him. “Peter and Indrani intentionally were misleading Rahul all through about Sheena’s whereabouts,” the agency stated.
The CBI also stated that Indrani had sent an email to Rahul from a “fake ID created by her in the name of Sheena” claiming that Peter was with her and was aware about the mail.
On February 16, 2016, the CBI filed filed a supplementary charge-sheet against Pet*er in the Sheena Bora murder case for various offences in connection with the killing of his step-daughter.
While Khanna and Peter are currently lodged in Arthur Road prison, Indrani is in Byculla women’s jail.