All the three accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case -- Indrani Mukerjea, Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai -- will be produced in a court in Mumbai as their police custody ends on Monday.
That answer, the strangest of all till date in this courtroom, set off a ripple of excitement, surprise and muted amusement among those present, including Accused No 1 Indrani Mukerjea.
A day after gory details of Sheena Bora murder case were revealed by police in court, her biological father on Tuesday came out in the open for the first time while skeletal remains purportedly of the 24-year-old unearthed in Raigad were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory in Mumbai.
Mumbai top cop Rakesh Maria's trusted man Dinesh Kadam also helped crack the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts' case, sent Abu Salem to jail and helped bust the Indian Mujahideen terror network in Mumbai.
Sanjeev Khanna stepped out of his usual sort of absent-minded personality to actively 'log into' the hearing, following the testimony alertly, at times standing up in the accused box to catch all of what was being said. His co-accused Peter Mukerjea and Indrani Mukerjea were less attentive, but were not switched off either.
The court allowed Karti to carry spectacles and medicines as per prescription subject to examination and approval by the jail doctor, but denied his request to carry toiletries, books, clothes and home food.
Peter said he needed a broom to sweep his cell because, he joked, there are no vacuum cleaners in jail.
In walked the scruffy band of pirates, without any swagger. Mostly tall or burly men, with weather beaten, resigned faces, the majority were dressed in track pants and tees; a few had skull caps. Some of their T-shirts had messages like 'I'm not in danger, I'm danger' or 'Long Beach California Surfer'.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday told a special court in Mumbai that Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, and her husband former media baron Peter Mukerjea were unhappy with the relationship between her daughter Sheena and Peter's son Rahul.
'There is no senior bureaucracy functioning now; these people only obey.' 'This is only a command and control kind of governance.'
So concluded a day in court that saw a woman accused of murder don a fresh role of heroine of the moment. Even Bollywood couldn't have come up with such a curious twist.
'At the back of the courtroom the three accused sat trying to catch the drift and fathom the new, inexplicable turn the case could be taking.' 'And the consequences it might have on their lives.'
The state government has ordered a probe as to why the police had not filed a first information report or an Accidental Death Report when Sheena's body was first found at a forest in Pen taluka of Maharashtra's Raigad district on May 23, 2012.
During the arguments, the ASG said FIPB officials have also been interrogated and all of them are holding high offices in their respective fields.
His answer to every question was, "I am politically victimised", the CBI said.
No home food for Karti, medicines allowed only on prescription.
Successes and controversies have gone hand-in-hand for Maria.
Investigators in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case are not ruling out the "honour killing" angle after it came to light that both Peter Mukherjea and main accused Indrani allegedly disapproved of the "relationship" between his son Rahul and the victim.
Indrani called her personal assistant Kajal Sharma from the UK, May 3, 2012, and told her she had to sign Sheena's resignation letter as if she was Sheena signing it. But she had to first practice the signature and send Indrani proof of her proficiency in signing Sheena's name before sending the letter off. Sharma said she was reluctant and told the court that she told Indrani as much, but Indrani demanded it of her.
Mekhail hopped off the bench in a hurry and turning his back to Indrani, stood at the window. Indrani ignored him too. Mekhail is getting married later this year. His mother will, of course, not be in attendance. Nor, of course, would he want her to be there, if she could.
One couldn't help feeling a certain melancholy viewing these now vagrant documents and photographs that would never be rightfully cherished. The pictures spoke to you. They offered slices of extinguished lives. They breathed sadness too, for what could have been and will never be. The sweet promises that Life made and insolently, arrogantly never kept.
TRPs have a better affinity for Karti Chidambaram and his alleged timely assistance to INX Media, the company Peter and Indrani once ran, than the more recent murder of a 25-year-old woman.
As they were not happy with her relationship with Peter's son Rahul.
Balbinder Singh Dhami, who has played an inspector, for over a year, in The Zee Horror Show, took on the role of a witness on Monday. It was a part he had no experience of.
Her elfin face could be seen and once more after many days the victim of this murder had a face and a presence.
Caught in a web of half truths, the Sheena Bora murder case continues to baffle investigators. Here are the top developments of the day.
Indrani looked cheerful and upbeat and announced she had quite recovered from her wounds...
After 800 days, is it a little clearer that Accused No 1 through 4 are responsible for her death?
If an FIR had been registered by the Pen police -- instead of a mere entry in the station diary -- an investigation could have taken place and the body might have been identified as Sheena's, leading to the case being cracked much earlier.
The Mukerjeas' former driver could remember every detail of Sheena Bora's alleged murder five years ago, including on what day he took Indrani to the beauty parlour, and the brands of liquor he bought, but was unable to recall anything subsequently or more recently...
Indrani and Peter Mukerjea seemed more at ease on Wednesday, maybe with the INX Media interrogation over temporarily, chatting cheerfully and easily amongst themselves, and with former husband Sanjeev Khanna, at the back of the courtroom, in the accused enclosure.
CBI sources said that agency teams swooped down at the residences of Peter and Indrani, two each in Mumbai and Goa, Indrani's ancestral home in Guwahati, her driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai's houses in Mumbai and Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, and the residence of Sanjeev Khanna in Kolkata.
A special court on Tuesday opened the statement of 'secret witness' Ravina Raj Kohli, former president of Star News, from a sealed cover and handed it over to the defence lawyers.
In just 18 frames, the photograph of the dainty Sheena, with her winsome smile and starry eyes, dissolved, flesh falling off her facial bones, into what the CBI alleged was her corresponding yellowed, morose-looking skull with hollow, haunting eye sockets.
Badami asked Das if Indrani was in the room. Das, whipping out his hand and pointing it at Indrani, announced: "Yes, she is right there." Indrani, who was looking down, through most of the hearing, momentarily raised her eyes, just a fraction and glanced at him. That was the first time either of them looked at each other. Till then, and later, Das refused to look at her, as if he was not able to, either out of anger or revulsion. It seemed mutual. Indrani too pretended throughout like he did not exist.
The prosecution's pursuit of this tiny detail was because they believed the charge from Google, on Indrani's account, was to restore Sheena's Gmail account, via the Google account recovery toolkit, since Indrani did not have the password.
In the 25 odd days that he has appeared before CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale, you have experienced the entire range of emotions just observing him. Everything from pity to irritation. To bafflement. And shock. You have scoured his face, gazed into his eyes, watched his expressions and body language, searching vigilantly for motives. And come away no wiser. Who is Shyamvar Rai? Does anybody know?
More noticeable than the hue of his shirt was his mast style in the witness box. He seemed to be reinventing the truth every few minutes. He yarned on and on, navigating his testimony further and further away from the facts, but he never lost his aplomb.
As Peter sits outside the court with his sister, Indrani walks in with a request. It has been three months since Peter has started speaking to Indrani again, after a long silence of two years.
Sheena Bora may be the latest of India's 'gone girls' but the list is too long to enumerate, says Sunil Sethi
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