A Mumbai special court has partly allowed Indrani Mukerjea’s request for documents collected during the Sheena Bora murder probe but not included in the chargesheet. The judge said giving access to non-confidential records was “in the interest of justice.”
A special CBI court in Mumbai on Saturday gave a partial order in favour of Indrani Mukerjea, the main accused in the high-profile Sheena Bora murder case. The court agreed to allow her access to some documents that were collected during the investigation but were not used by the prosecution in its chargesheet.
Special CBI judge J. P. Darekar, who is handling the trial, said there was no legal restriction on producing or giving copies of certain records like forensic reports and flight data. The judge noted that these materials did not include any “secret or confidential information.”
The judge further said,
“in the interest of justice, it will be proper to direct the prosecution to produce these documents and issue the copies of the same to the accused.”
However, the judge refused to allow Mukerjea’s request for access to some other documents, including the case diary connected to the local police’s FIR. The court made it clear that such documents could not be shared with the defence.
The judge observed,
“On bare perusal of this legal provision, it is clear that the accused or his agents are not entitled to use or even to see the case diary.”
Indrani Mukerjea had filed a plea stating that she needed copies of these “unrelied documents” to prepare a proper and fair defence. According to her, these documents were important to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses effectively.
These documents were collected during the early stages of the investigation but were not included by the prosecution when filing the chargesheet.
The trial court is currently recording the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses as the case continues.
The Sheena Bora murder case, one of Mumbai’s most sensational criminal trials, dates back to April 2012. As per the prosecution, 24-year-old Sheena Bora was allegedly strangled to death in a car by her mother, Indrani Mukerjea, with the help of her then-driver Shyamvar Rai and ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna.
The prosecution claims that the trio later burnt Sheena’s body and dumped it in a forest area in Raigad district, near Mumbai.
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The case came to light only in 2015 when driver Shyamvar Rai, after being arrested in another criminal matter, disclosed the details of the murder to the police. His confession opened up the investigation that led to the arrests of Indrani Mukerjea and others.
The court’s latest order allows Mukerjea partial access to certain key investigation documents while maintaining confidentiality over sensitive records, ensuring that the ongoing trial continues under due legal process.
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