Witness grilled on memory in Sheena Bora case

Mumbai: The defence lawyers in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case on Thursday grilled a key prosecution witness on his memory as he had stated that he had seen Indrani Mukerjea, Shyamvar Rai and Sanjeev Khanna at the spot where Sheena’s body was burnt. The witness had not only identified Indrani and Khanna but also mentioned their approximate height and weight three years after he had seen them while passing from the spot on his bike.

However, during cross examination on Thursday, he could not reveal similar details which he had related to the tehsildar and two panch witnesses, who had travelled with him in a police vehicle to Arthur Road jail to conduct a test identification parade of these accused.

During the cross-examination by Indrani’s lawyer Sudeep Pasbola and Khanna’s lawyers Niranjan Mundergi along with Shreyansh Mithare, Patil told them that he had left his house at around 5am for Shirouli village to hire his friend’s tempo. He told them that he had reached that place around five to ten minutes after 6 am. After conversing with his friend for around 10 minutes, he left for Pen. He wanted to transfer gym equipment from Pen to his village, where he now runs a gym.

The witness told the court that on his way to Pen, he had seen Indrani, Rai and Khanna standing by the side of the road, outside a car. According to the timing he stated before court, he covered the distance of around 10km within 15 minutes despite riding his motorcycle at a moderate speed.

Patil also told the court that he had never visited any police station until he went to the Khar police station to tell them about the presence of three people at the spot where Sheena’s body was recovered, the defence said he had gone to the Pen police station first. They also claimed that he was deposing falsely at the instance of the CBI.