In what came as a boost to the investigators in the Sheena Bora murder case, the Directorate of Forensic Science laboratory (DFSl), Kalina, on Monday stated in its report to the Mumbai Police that the DNA tests conducted on skull and parts of bones recovered from the Gogade Khurd jungles in Raigad district ten days ago, established that they were indeed that of Sheena.
On a day when a city court remanded the three accused, including Indrani Bora, in judicial custody for 14 days thus ending their prolonged custodial interrogation by the police, the investigators heaved a sigh of relief, as the DFSl — which had not only conducted the DNA tests on the recovered skeletal remains of the deceased woman but had also matched with the parents and brother of the deceased — confirmed that the skull and bones were that of Sheena.
The forensic experts at the DFSl had conducted the DNA tests, after they extracted the samples from the cells of a femur (thigh bone) and pulp of the two teeth purportedly belonging to deceased Sheena and later matched with that of the samples taken from her mother Indrani, biological father Siddharth Das and younger brother Mikhail. “We have some good news for the Mumbai Police,” informed sources at the DFSl told The Pioneer after the laboratory sent off its report to the city police in a sealed cover.
The DFSl’s confirmation comes on the heels of a report submitted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run BYl Nair Hospital which had stated last week that a digital facial superimposition of Sheena’s profile had matched with the skull recovered from the Gogade Khurd jungles off the Khopoli-Pen Road in the neighbouring Raigad district.
Apart from confirming that the digital facial superimposition of Sheena’s profile had matched with the skull recovered from the Gogade Khurd jungles, the Nair Hospital had stated that the bones belonged to that of a woman aged between 22 and 25 years and that the murder had place sometime in 2012.
It may be recalled that Indrani and other two arrested accused — Sanjeev and Shyamvar Rai — allegedly strangulated Sheena in a car on the evening of April 24, 2012 and 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 Gogade Khurd jungles, where they doused the bag with petrol and set it on fire.
The Raigad district police, who had found an unidentified body in a charred and decomposed state on May 23, 2012, had done panchnama and submitted “pieces of bones” to the State-run JJ Hospital two days later for examination.
However, Dean of the JJ Hospital Dr TP lahane had nine days ago disclosed that his hospital could not determine the “age, sex and cause of death” of Sheena from the “pieces of bones” submitted to the hospital, following which the city police carried out fresh excavation of the crime scene and recovered skull and bones that they had sent it DNA testing to the DFSl on August 29.
Meanwhile, the three accused in the Sheena Bora murder case — Indrani, her second husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai — were presented before a Bandra court on Monday afternoon. The court remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.
While Rai had been placed under arrest on August 21, Indrani was arrested on August 25. Sanjeev was arrested in Kolkata on August 26 and brought to Mumbai on the following day. On their part, Sanjeev and Rai have confessed to their complicity in the crime, there is no official confirmation as yet, to whether Indrani had admitted to her role in the crime.
In a related development, Indrani’s husband and co-founder of INX Media Pvt ltd Peter Mukerjea was subjected to another round of prolonged questioning by the police on Monday. Earlier, Peter had been grilled for a total of nearly 36 hours on three consecutive days last week.
A day ahead of the three accused being sent to the judicial custody, the police had on Sunday taken Indrani to her Worli residence in south-central Mumbai to re-construct the crime scene. Indrani, it may be recalled, had returned to her Worli residence on the night of April 24, 2012, after allegedly strangulating her daughter Sheena (in cahoots with her second husband Sanjeev and driver Shyamvar Rai) in a car and parked the car with the body of the deceased in the garage of her husband Peter Mukherjea.
Apart from charging her for offences under sections 364 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 120B (conspiracy) of the IPC for allegedly killing her daughter Sheena in collusion with her second husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rar, the police have booked Indrani under sections additional sections 328 and 307 of the IPC for allegedly attempting to kill her own son Mikhail by spiking his drink and for offences under offences under section 202 (intentional omission) and 203 (giving false information to the police). The police have accused Indrani of conspiring to both her daughter Sheena and son Mikhail on the same day (April 24, 2012).