On a day when the city sessions court extended the judicial custody of three accused in the Sheena Bora murder case till December 17, the CBI moved the same court for permission to interrogate prime accused Indrani Mukherjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shamvar Rai in jail.
After interrogating at length and also subjecting Peter Mukherjea to a polygraph test during its 11-day custody, the CBI on Thursday shifted its focus back to the three other accused in the case, including Indrani Mukerjea, as it sought a formal nod from the court to interrogate the trio in the jail. “We seek permission to interrogate the accused for three weeks,” CBI special prosecutor Kavita Patil told the sessions court.
Special Judge H S Mahajan is expected to hear the CBI’s application on Monday.
Making a case for the interrogation of three accused in judicial custody, the CBI told the court that it had received forensic and Skype communication reports and that it wanted to confront the three accused with the findings in the two reports.
In its application seeking the court’s permission to interrogate three accused in the much-discussed murder case, the CBI stated: “Accused Indrani, Khanna and Rai are further required to be examined in respect of the contents of messages exchanged over Skype between Indrani—Rai and Indrani—Khanna immediately before the incident. These messages have been retrieved by the forensic laboratory and the report has been received recently”..
In a related development, Indrani – through her lawyer -- moved an application seeking statements of witnesses recorded before the court and also the confessional statement of Rai, who had allegedly conspired with her in the murder of Sheena Bora. Sanjeev’s lawyer Shreyansh Mithare also moved a similar application.
Five witnesses have so far recorded their statements in the case under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure code, which unlike police statements, are admissible in the court.
The extension in the judicial custody of three accused, including Indrani, came two days after the metropolitan magistrate’s court remanded Peter in judicial custody till December 14.
Fifty-nine-year-old Peter, who was arrested on November 19 on charges of conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence in the case, was subjected to prolonged interrogation and a polygraph test by the CBI during his 11-day-long custody with the investigating agency.