Mumbai (PTI): A special court here on Saturday partially allowed a plea filed by Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, seeking production and copies of certain documents collected during the probe stage, but not relied upon by the prosecution.

Special CBI court judge J P Darekar, presiding over the trial in the case, held that there was no legal bar to the production and copying of certain documents, such as forensic reports and flight data.

The court noted these descriptions did not suggest secret or confidential information.

Therefore, "in the interest of justice", it will be proper to direct the prosecution to produce these documents and issue the copies of the same to the accused, the court said.

The judge, however, rejected the prayer for production and scrutiny of certain other documents, including the case diary of the local police FIR.

On bare perusal of this legal provision, it is clear that the accused or his agents are not entitled to use or even to see the case diary, the judge said.

Mukerjea had argued that production and scrutiny of these "unrelied documents" were necessary to enable the defence to effectively cross-examine the prosecution witnesses and prepare a "fair and proper defence".

These documents were collected during investigation, but not relied upon by prosecution while filing the chargesheet.

The court at present is recording the testimony of the prosecution witnesses.

Sheena Bora (24) went missing from the city on April 24, 2012.

As per the prosecution, Bora was allegedly strangled to death in a car by her mother Indrani Mukerjea, her then driver Shyamvar Rai (who later turned approver in the case) and Indrani's former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012.

Her body was burnt and disposed of at a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district.

The murder came to light in 2015, after Rai spilled the beans following his arrest in another case.

 

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Bengaluru (PTI): In the wake of the hike in fuel prices, private bus operators have decided to increase fares by 20-30 per cent, depending on the route, effective from Friday midnight.

They have also called for government subsidies, a reduction in cess, and lower road taxes to improve the situation.

"The situation for bus owners in the state is already distressing due to high road tax and the impact of the Shakti scheme (free bus travel for women in government buses). On top of this, fuel prices have increased," Karnataka State Bus Owners’ Association President S Nataraj Sharma said.

"This will impose a burden of Rs 15,000 per vehicle per month on bus owners. If an owner has three buses, the burden will be Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 per month," he added.

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Speaking to reporters, he said the situation has made it inevitable for owners to increase fares by 20-30 per cent, depending on the route, under current conditions.

The increase may be roughly Rs 200 per seat, he added.

"For example, the current bus fare from Bengaluru to Belagavi is around Rs 1,000–Rs 1,200, which is likely to rise to Rs 1,350–Rs 1,400. Similarly, fares from Bengaluru to Mangaluru or Udupi currently range from Rs 900–Rs 1,000 and are expected to go up to Rs 1,100–Rs 1,200," he said.

Petrol and diesel prices were each hiked by Rs 3 per litre on Friday, the first rate increase in more than four years, amid mounting losses for fuel retailers due to surging global crude prices in the wake of the West Asia conflict.

The increase comes a couple of weeks after the Assembly elections concluded in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry.