In a development that threw light on the alleged murder of convict Manjula Shetye inside the Byculla women prison, prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case Indrani Mukherjea informed a special CBI court on Wednesday that she was beaten up in the jail and threatened with sexual assault by the jail staff for protesting against Manjula’s murder.
Making a statement made before Special CBI Judge JC Jagdale, Indrani said, “I was hit on the hand and legs. I can barely walk. The Jail Superintendent told me ‘tu witness banne ja rahi hai… tereko bhi dekh lenge’ (you are going to become a witness, we would see you)....I was threatened that they will do the same thing that they did to her (Manuja Shetye)”.
In a statement that will help nail the alleged jail staffers who were booked on Saturday for Manjula’s alleged murder, Indrani said, “On Friday, I saw jail officials dragging Manjula Shetye by her hair with a sari wrapped around her neck. The officials inserted a stick inside her private parts. The male officers then took her to the hospital. The next day, I learned that Shetye had died”.
Indrani told the Judge that she was prepared to record a Magistrate under Section 164 CrPC, which is admissible in a court of law on the assault on her and the alleged murder that took place inside the Byculla women prison, which houses more than 350 women inmates and at least 25 children who stay with their jail inmate-mothers inside the prison,
Following Indrani’s deposition, the Judge ordered that she should be taken for a medical and later to the Nagpada Police Station to lodge her formal complaint on the incident.
After the news of Manjula’s death spread within the Byculla women jail, 290-odd women prisoners — including Indrani — had on Saturday morning climbed up the two-storey terrace of the jail building and staged a protest against the inmate’s alleged murder.