Trial Resumes After 5-Month Pause, Court Directs Daily Hearings From March 10
Mumbai: The trial in the Sheena Bora murder case will resume from Monday (March 10) after a brief break of over five months. The court has now asked the prosecution to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis in view of the Bombay High Court (HC) directive to expedite the trial.
The prosecution has examined 93 witnesses till November 2024. Thereafter, the special judge was transferred, bringing the trial to a standstill. Last month, the new judge was assigned, after which the case came up for the hearing on Friday. Apart from the daily hearing directive, the special court has asked the prosecution to submit a final list of witnesses, which it intends to examine.
According to the prosecution, Bora’s mother Indrani and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamwar Rai (who later turned approver) strangled her in a car on April 24, 2012. It is alleged that the body was later dumped into a bag and kept overnight in the garage before being set on fire in Raigad’s Pen village the next day.
The case, however, came to light after Rai was arrested for allegedly carrying illegal weapons in 2015. During the interrogation, he broke down and spilled the beans on the alleged murder plot.
While the trial was at standstill, Indrani moved a plea to travel abroad, which was allowed by special CBI judge S P Naik Nimbalkar on July 19. However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) immediately challenged the order before the HC, saying that the accused may never return to India to face the trial. The HC nixed the special court’s order, prompting Indrani to move to the Supreme Court, which too declined to give her permission for overseas travel.
Key witnesses examined by the prosecution, so far, include Bora’s partner and Peter Mukerjea’s (Indrani’s ex-husband) son Rahul, forensic and medical experts, Indrani’s staff, Sheena’s brother Mikhail Bora and Rai.
