Oh, what a strange 'tangled web' these two men and one woman have been caught up in for the last nine years. Or allegedly 'weaved'.
Vidhie Mukerjea, a key witness in the Sheena Bora murder case, denied making a statement to probe agencies, claiming documents in the CBI chargesheet were forged. She also alleged that Rahul and Rabin Mukerjea stole her mother's assets and had a motive to falsely implicate her.
Sheena Bora's birthday fell on February 11 and it's been 14 years since she disappeared into thin air. She would have been 39. Nearly one-and-a-half decades later are we patiently inching nearer to knowing the truth of what happened?
'On August 22, 2015, Shyamvar Rai disclosed to you that he had committed the murder of Sheena Bora along with Rahul Mukerjea.' How would Indrani have reacted to this?
Indrani Mukerjea, in pure white, sporting dancing pearl jhumkas, bobbed about the accused box, occasionally floating up front to whisper urgent suggestions to her lawyer Ranjeet Sangle as retired cop and prosecution witness Dinesh Kadam gave her a long look. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel returns to cover the Sheena Bora murder trial after 18 months.
According to the witness, Sheena once told her that Indrani administered her wrong medication, and she landed in hospital as a result.
Key witness Vidhie Mukerjea testified in the Sheena Bora murder trial, claiming that Bora was alive after her alleged murder and identifying her voice in a recording.
Indrani is in a buoyant and energetic frame of mind these days -- in a full-on Mood Positive. She has a tell-all book titled Unbroken out, that she terms as an 'eet ka jawab kalam se' and appears in media interviews all over the place, when she is not kick-boxing, doing yoga, or travelling, visiting temples, or floating in shikaras on Srinagar's Dal Lake.
The court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file its response to Mukerjea's plea.
Indrani Mukerjea wanted her husband Peter to believe that she was neither mother nor sister of Sheena and that the 24-year-old victim was very much alive, said the CBI.
The bench gave liberty to Mukerjea to approach the trial court
Indrani said that the inordinate delay in conducting the trial has deprived her of her fundamental right to work in the country of her nationality (England) and residence, as also the freedom to travel freely outside India.
Indrani said that one of her inmates in Byculla prison has told her that she had spotted Sheena in Kashmir some time ago.
'She seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet after telling different people different things.'
While the trial of the Sheena Bora murder case is far from over, the story has seen some bizarre turns and twists so far.
The CBI had sought an urgent hearing of the plea before the alternate bench of Justice Kotwal.
Weeks after it informed that parts of the purported skeleton of murder victim Sheena Bora were untraceable, the prosecution on Wednesday told the trial court in Mumbai that they were lying at the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) office in New Delhi.
CBI special judge SP Naik-Nimbalkar said the court does not have the "inherent power" to stop the broadcast, and asked the probe agency to approach an appropriate forum if advised.
OTT platform Netflix on Thursday told the Bombay high court that it would not release the documentary series on Indrani Mukerjea, who is facing trial for allegedly killing her daughter Sheena Bora, till February 29.
Constant "blackmailing" of former media executive Indrani Mukerjea by her daughter Sheena Bora and relationship with Rahul Mukerjea were among the reasons for her murder in April 2012, according to a Central Bureau of Investigation official.
It would seem that Indrani's application was not something prepared or maybe even sanctioned by her lawyers and was a courtroom enterprise she had embarked on by herself, perhaps not realising it distracted from the main business of the trial and didn't help her cause.
The Bombay high court on Thursday said it has not found anything against the prosecution or the trial in the Netflix docu-series on Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora.
One of the high points of the proceedings was when Indrani Mukerjea's lawyer smartly utilised Dr Zeba Khan's expert status to pose her A Most Curious Question. He asked her if a skull can grow new teeth, even after the person, who it belonged to, had died, three years before. We can be sure that the discrepancy between the number of teeth discovered in the skull unearthed in 2012 and the skull shown in court in September 2019 will come up soon in Courtroom No 51. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora Murder Trial.
Peter's lawyer paints Indrani as a master manipulator, looking to waste the court's time and use the media to manipulate public perception about his client. 'She is "trying to exonerate herself," the lawyer argues, and accuses Indrani of "trying to lay a trap" for Peter "and attempting to malign his reputation"...'
If Indrani Mukerjea wanted to whitewash her image, this docu series was not the right platform, asserts Deepa Gahlot.
Mekhail delivered the most deliberate heart-tugging line of the day: "If a son asks his mother for money is wrong, then tell me." At the back Indrani gave one of her most beaming smiles that was meant to convey the exact opposite. This was no mother happy that her son had said he turned to her when he needed money because she was his mother.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora murder trial.
as the trial proceeds, Peter is beginning to look more and more haggard while Indrani by contrast is blossoming. Khanna appeared exhausted and more down and out than usual at this hearing.
And while the owner of the Chevrolet, which held Sheena's remains, will be examined on October 16 in Judge Jagdale's court, it is Indrani's response to the prosecution's reply to her bail application that will be the focus of everyone's attention.
At the prison, both Ranjan and Manglik's cell phones were pressed into service by the CBI. Why the CBI didn't bring its own equipment seems a mystery... Ranjan's cell handset was given to Indrani and Manglik dialed it. Indrani then spoke and her speech, that emanated from the phone, via speaker mode, was recorded.
The living will do anything to save their lives. The dead can't defend themselves. Will Sheena Bora's good name survive her murder trial?
'When the forensics have collapsed, approver is clearly proved to be a liar from the beginning to the end... Does the prosecution genuinely believe that we ought to remain in judicial custody despite showing that their own story is not being corroborated by evidence, for another 192 witnesses?'
Indrani was cheering Pasbola on from the back, with little, happy whoops, that she muffled with her chunni. Indrani was in her element on Friday. The defence's cross-examination was clearly going her way and Indrani was delighted.
Indrani's words were quick, her hand gestures quicker. She kept pointing to certain paragraphs in their consent terms.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora murder trial.
Indrani is easily the most striking woman arriving in the court complex from jail on trial days. For those who don't know who she is, there is absurd puzzlement written large on faces when they bump into her. When she reaches or leaves the premises, one notices heads swivelling in jaw-dropping curiosity, as did a pair of transsexual undertrials who crossed her path at the last hearing of 2018, who were, not surprisingly, a less unusual sight than Indrani.
The main accused in the Sheena Bora murder case has been suffering from dengue for the last seven days.
Police on Wednesday brought former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea face to face with his wife Indrani and the two other accused in the Sheena Bora murder case and questioned them extensively.
Rahul Mukerjea's two-day cross examination in early November left many questions unanswered even as new ones came to the fore in the Sheena Bora Murder Trial, reports Prasanna D Zore.
'With folded hands, on humanitarian grounds, if she can get temporary bail on medical grounds so she can get treatment.' 'If she dies, the whole trial gets derailed.'
'I returned to jail at 4.45. I was body searched and sent back to my cell.' 'A bowl of dal was kept there covered.' 'Another guard gave me a tablet and I became unconscious.' Accused One spoke about a similar incident happening to her in October 2015 and also with a bowl of dal.
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