Sheena Bora murder: Indrani's plea to recall witness Rahul Mukerjea is attempt to prolong trial, says CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI on Friday told a special court here that the plea by Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, to recall witness Rahul Mukerjea at a future date is an attempt to prolong the trial as she is out on bail.The probe agency, in its written response to Indranis plea, said that her application was not maintainable.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday told a special court here that the plea by Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, to recall witness Rahul Mukerjea at a future date is an attempt to prolong the trial as she is out on bail.

The probe agency, in its written response to Indrani's plea, said that her application was "not maintainable". Rahul Mukerjea has already deposed as a witness in the murder case and was cross-examined at length by Indrani's lawyer Ranjeet Sangle. After completion of his deposition last month, Indrani moved a plea seeking to recall Rahul Mukerjea for cross-examination later, claiming that she still does not have access to all case papers.

She had also accused Rahul Mukerjea of being dishonest and uncooperative.

However, the CBI in its reply said that considering the fact that the prosecution witness (Rahul Mukerjea) had already been cross-examined and discharged, the present application has otherwise become infructuous.

The probe agency further said that it has already supplied documents to the accused persons in compliance with the relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the charges were framed in January 2017.

"Thereafter, 69 prosecution witnesses have been examined till date. Therefore, the submission of the applicant (Indrani) that she does not have the entire and complete set of documents and not had the opportunity to cross-examine prosecution witness (Rahul Mukerjea) thoroughly is not maintainable and denied," the CBI said.

"It is nothing but an attempt by the applicant to prolong the trial, as the accused person is out on bail," it added. The CBI claimed that Indrani's lawyer had already cross-examined at length for a considerable period of time, which was evident from the record. As 10 years have passed since the crime, it is not possible for any witness to recall the minutest of details. Even otherwise, this is no ground to recall the witness, the CBI said, adding the applicant had prolonged the cross-examination by posing irrelevant questions to the witness.

The court will hear the matter further on December 21.

Indrani Mukerjea is a prime accused in the murder case of her daughter Sheena Bora.

The murder came to light in 2015, three years after Sheena (24) was allegedly killed by her mother Indrani with the help of two other accused in April 2012.

According to the probe agency, Indrani had disapproved of Sheena's relationship with Rahul Mukerjea and also had financial disputes with her.

The other accused in the case include Peter Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna. All the accused are currently out on bail.

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