Indrani disregarded Sheena: CBI

Mumbai: Moving towards the trial in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday started its arguments on framing of charges against the accused.

CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami argued before the court that the agency has strong evidence against all the accused and it needs a chance to prove it. Pointing out to several points in the chargesheet the lawyer said, prima facie, there is evidence to show that Indrani Mukerjea, with the help of her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, had killed her own daughter Sheena.

He claimed that Indrani’s total love and affection for her daughter Vidhie and total disregard towards Sheena, her other daughter, was one of the reasons behind the murder. Another reason for murder, according to Mr Badami, was property, as Indrani was scared that if Sheena and Rahul Mukerjea married, she would get hold of all the properties because her husband, former media baron and accused, Peter Mukerjea loved his son a lot.

He also claimed that Peter’s claim that he was not involved in the conspiracy and did not have any knowledge about the murder is false. Mr Badami said that though Peter was in London, there were phone calls between him and Indrani on the day of incident at odd hours, which proves Peter’s involvement. He also pointed out Vidhie’s SMS to Rahul in which she warned him that Indrani could do something very bad to them.

Speaking about Peter’s conduct, he said he was in touch with the then-additional commissioner of police Deven Bharati, but he did nothing to trace his Sheena despite his son Rahul crying in front of him.

Mr Badami emphasised on the word “safe” in one of Sheena’s mail to Indrani. The mail sent by Sheena said that she was very happy and “safe” with Rahul. According to prosecution, Sheena was apprehending something bad from her mother.

Mr Badami said that income tax returns filed by Indrani between 2005 and 2008 show that she had given much more money to Vidhie than Sheena.

According to him, the behaviour of the accused, documentary evidence and other electronic communication show that there were number of reasons and a number of circumstances to kill Sheena.