Shyamvar Rai unable to identify the letter

Mumbai: On Friday, the On Friday, the accussed - turned- approver Shyamvar Rai could not identify the letter written on his behalf, seeking pardon in the April 2012 Sheena Bora murder case.

The letter was in English and when confronted with a copy of the application bearing his own signature seeking pardon in the case, Rai said he could not understand what was written in it.

Advocate Sudeep Pasbola and Gunjan Mangala on behalf of Indrani Mukerjea cross-examined Rai for around two and a half hours and he replied “I cannot recollect” or “I don’t know”, in reply to almost 75 per cent of questions asked by defence lawyers.

Rai said he was not aware if senior police officers like Commissioner of Police (Rakesh Maria), DCP and Additional Commissioner of Police used to come and question him in Khar police station when he was in Khar police’s custody.

Though the entire cross-examination went on in Hindi, however, before confronting with a letter bearing Rai’s signature and seeking pardon for him in Sheena Bora murder case,  advocate Pasbole asked Rai in Engllish, “When did it first occur to you that you should become an approver? Can you address me in English?” to which Rai replied he was unable to understand what Pasbola was saying. After that Pasbola gave a two-page document typed in English to him and asked if he could read it but to this too he said he would be able to read few words but won’t be able to understand it. This document was an application seeking pardon for Rai.

During further cross-examination, Rai also said that apart from writing a letter to the  magistrate expressing his desire to “tell the truth”, he never informed anybody about his intention to confess or that he wanted to become a prosecution witness.

The defence also asked him if the latter had told anybody that he wanted his statement to be recorded under section 307 of CrPC to which he said he was not aware of the  law and didn’t know what that section was for. Special judge JC Jagdale had also said the witness is a layman and technical questions like this should not be asked to him but when the defence pointed out that this section is mentioned in his letter, the judge allowed the question.

To the question, Rai replied that he wrote a letter expressing his desire to tell the truth only in relation to Sheena Bora’s murder and not in Arms case for which he was arrested first.

It may be recalled that during his testimony he has already told this court that Indrani Mukerjea’s instruction he had collected one parcel that contained a country made revolver and cartridges and when he was trying to throw them away, the police arrested him.