Sheena Bora murder: CBI moves HC for stay on upcoming release of docu-series on Indrani Mukerjea
Mumbai, Feb 21: The CBI on Wednesday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the upcoming release of a documentary series on Indrani Mukerjea, facing trial for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, a day after a special court rejected its application.
The CBI is contemplating filing an application seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Mukerjea as she was breaching conditions imposed on her to not influence witnesses, the agency told the HC.
A division bench headed by Justice Revati Mohite Dere asked the makers of the docu-series to indicate on Thursday if any witnesses who are yet to be examined in the murder trial, feature in the series.
The docu-series, titled The Indrani Mukerjea Story: The Buried Truth', delves into the disappearance of 25-year-old Bora and is scheduled to premiere on streaming platform Netflix on February 23.
The special court while rejecting the CBI's plea for a stay on the docu-series on Tuesday said it does not have "inherent powers" to pass such a direction.
Shreeram Shirsat, the advocate for the Central Bureau of Investigation, told the high court on Wednesday that the agency should have been consulted once by the makers of the documentary series.
He said the CBI was not seeking a complete ban on the release of the docu-series but is only requesting a stay until the trial in the case is over.
"The CBI is only saying that this series should not be released till the trial is concluded. Witnesses who are yet to depose in the case may get influenced by the (airing of the) series," Shirsat said.
He also said the CBI was contemplating to also file an application seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Indrani Mukerjea as she was breaching conditions imposed on her to not influence witnesses.
Senior counsel Ravi Kadam, appearing for Netflix, argued that all details of the case were already available in the public domain and that Indrani had herself written a book.
He added that the trial may go on for some more time.
The division bench adjourned the matter till Thursday.
According to CBI, 89 witnesses out of 237 have been examined so far before the trial court in the Sheena Bora murder case.
Bora was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Indrani, her driver Shyamvar Rai, and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012.
Bora was Indrani's daughter from her previous relationship. Her body was allegedly burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district.
The murder came to light in 2015 after Rai revealed about the killing following his arrest in another case.
Indrani was arrested in August 2015. She was granted bail in May 2022.
The other accused in the case, Rai, Khanna and Peter Mukerjea, are also out on bail.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
