Mumbai: Prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case Indrani Mukerjea has filed an interim bail application before a special CBI court conducting the trial in her daughter Sheena Bora’s murder case on the grounds that she had tested positive for COVID-19 last month in Byculla jail where she is lodged.
The 49-year-old was among 38 inmates of the prison who had contracted the virus. At the end of the month, it was reported that she had tested negative along with 15 other inmates.
Six of her previous bail applications have been rejected in the past, the special court rejecting one in August last year. The last one to be rejected was filed on merits of the case. While rejecting it, the court had said that the trial is ongoing and it cannot assess the reliability or unreliability of evidence on record or pass final conclusion on evidentiary value of prosecution witnesses.
Indrani Mukerjea had filed this bail plea on merits of the case in December last year. Arguing it herself in court, she had pointed out discrepancies in the statements of prosecution witnesses and had said that they had been planted. She had disputed that the skull that was produced in court was that of her daughter Sheena Bora. The 48-year-old had also argued that apart from the statement of her former driver and now an approver in the case – Shyamvar Rai, there was no proper evidence the agency had against her.
In June last year, she had filed an interim bail on the grounds of the pandemic, which was rejected too. In her previous bail pleas filed on medical grounds she had stated that she had neurological issues and had suffered a near stroke. She had also said she has unbearable headaches and blackouts, which occur frequently.
Mukerjea, her former husbands Peter Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna are facing trial for the 2012 murder of Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora and attempt to murder of her son Mekhail. Shyamvar Rai, an accused, turned approver in the case. The crime was revealed when Rai was apprehended by the police in another case in 2015.
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