Pasbola had a number of queries about the nails of the corpse found at Gagode Khurd. Did it have nails? Nails, in a case of strangulation, are key because they often have particles and skin beneath them to show the victim had been grasping something as s/he was strangled.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora murder trial.
P Chidambaram's son Karti was arrested on February 28 at the Chennai airport on his return from the United Kingdom, for his alleged role in facilitating Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance for INX Media Ltd. and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on the Sheena Bora Trial.
SFIO tried to sift through changed names, cross-holdings in INX Group
This is the first time that the 73-year-old former finance and home minister is being grilled by the ED in this case.
The British home secretary has granted permission for jeweller Nirav Modi's extradition to India. During their arguments in a London court, his lawyers claimed Modi suffers from mental illness and is a suicide risk if he was sent to Mumbai's Arthur Road jail. A fascinating excerpt from Danish Khan and Ruhi Khan's Escaped: True Stories Of Indian Fugitives In London.
Chidambaram, 74, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 21 and is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in the corruption case.
Back to Sheena Bora's grave, via e-time travel
Throughout, Mekhail spoke calmly, with hardly an inflection making even the barest attempt to hijack his tone. His tone was so empty it made his narrative all the more touching. And ugly and grey, as the monsoon sky beyond the window.
The wills and some of the emails which are a part of the charge sheet stated that Indrani had bequeathed around 20 properties to Vidhie.
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.
Chidambaram has not been named as an accused in the FIR and the CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in the matter.
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?
Chidambaram said it was a 'despicable slur' on the six secretaries of the government.
Happy with her latest move, Indrani departed from Courtroom 51 with a spring in her step. The woman who hopped up into the jail truck was a cheerful one.
'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.'
Ever since Indrani's bail plea was denied by the judge her security has been stepped up. The message was clear. If she felt that unsafe she could get all the security she needed. But in jail she stayed.
Noise levels began to climb and everyone else in the room stared agape as the fracas escalated, including the trio of accused at the back. Peter, Sanjeev and Indrani stood at the edge of their enclosure craning to see the spectacle.
'Could the Khar police and the CBI have tinkered with the driver's call data records?' 'And did their fiddling with the information not make it that they were tampering with the lives of people that were in the balance as a result of this case?'
'Who is the right Mekhail? Mekhail I or Mekhail II?'
And then came the chief moment of Friday. If the courtroom had a soundtrack, Beethoven's 9th would be playing, providing a triumphant, dramatic prologue to the production of this last clip. A woman reporter was asking Mekhail about Sanjeev Khanna. He says clearly, without mincing words, emphatically: 'Never seen him. First time I am hearing his name.'
'Ram Sir was a creator of law. He has his stamp on every leading judgment in criminal law.'
Trepidation made its home firmly on his face on Thursday, announcing its presence with lines of anxiety and the repeated jumpy widening of his eyes.
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.
Rai said he failed to dispose of the gun on two occasions as he developed cold feet. He said he was arrested when he tried to get rid of the gun for third time.
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.
The Sheena Bora murder mystery has seen more twists than a television sitcom. As skeletons continue to tumble out, here are the latest developments in the case.
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.
Singh and Badami subsequently took Waghmare to a corner of the corridor outside, where others have no access, and gave him a lecture. The conversation was largely inaudible, except for a phrase here or there. The thrust was unmistakable. Waghmare had to learn not to give such detailed answers to the defence.
'You don't want to admit that it is your wife in the video because she said you were arrested on Wednesday (August 19; Shyamvar Rai states he was arrested on August 21, a Friday).'
'All governments try owning the message, but the Modi-Shah BJP has developed it into a fine art.'
Without a moment of hesitation, Rai jumped up on his rickety wooden stool in the witness box. He then drew his legs close to his body and wrapped his arms around his knees and finally tucked his head into his knees demonstrating the fetal position.
Over the weekend and Labour Day, a change seemed to have come over the former secretary and her memory had all but deserted her. Not unexpectedly, Kajal Sharma had lost much of her exactness. Her vocabulary had shrivelled to four or five words.
'The talk in police circles is that Maria was about to crack the money transaction trail in the crime. The Mumbai police's Economic and Offences Wing had begun investigations into the money trail and Mumbai police officers had visited Singapore in this connection.'
Then came the electrifying climax of Tuesday's hearing. Pasbola showed Sharma copies of cheques that had been deposited at the bank with Indrani's signature on them. He accused Sharma of forging Indrani's signature and collecting the money for herself. In the back Indrani stood up in the accused box and very pointedly nodded her head up and down and mouthed, "She did!".
After 800 days, is it a little clearer that Accused No 1 through 4 are responsible for her death?
Ganesh Dhene said there had only been two or three mango trees in the grove, from where he found the skeleton, which he specified had no flesh on it.
Dr Gupta handled Shivade's blows with quite some equanimity... So it was often only Shivade down in the mud pit, egging and enticing the doctor to join the fight, while Dr Gupta cautiously kept to the sidelines, barely stepping a toe into the mud.
'After Indrani's arrest did you go to the police and say I did this kind of forgery?'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances