Indrani, Sanjeev, driver to remain in custody till September 5

Mumbai: A local court in Bandra on Monday extended the police custody of all the three accused, including Indrani Mukerjea co-founder of 9X media, till September 5 so that police can get enough time to investigate the Sheena Bora murder case.

The police on Monday produced Indrani, her driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai and Indrani’s former husband Sanjiv Khanna and sought remand on various grounds. Public prosecutor Laxman Rathod argued before the court that the police is still waiting for forensic report of the skeleton recovered from Raigad, the car used in the crime is required to be located and it is yet to be found out who has the mobile phone and clothes used by Sheena at the time of incident.

Advocate Rathod further told the court that the police also wants to know if more persons are involved in the crime and the prosecution case is based on circumstantial evidence and hence the police wants to complete the chain of events. The police’s claim that the case is based on circumstantial evidence is an indirect indication that it does not have much evidence and the case would be based on scientific evidence as well as chain of events to show involvement of accused.

The police, in its remand application, said that during the accused’s six-day custody, the investigating agency was able to locate the shop from where things used to commit the crime was bought. The petrol pump from where fuel was bought in a can to burn the body of Sheena has been found and statements of witnesses from both the places have been recorded. The police has also seized the resignation letter and other documents of the victim from the company where she used to work. Sheena’s passport has been seized and other documents have been obtained from the Pune police under whose jurisdiction Sheena’s alleged remains were found. The police has claimed that the accused had also planned to kill deceased’s brother Mikhail Bora and they have also recovered another suitcase which was supposed to be used to stash Mikhail’s body after murdering him. The police has also recovered a photograph of Sheena from driver Rai’s home.

The custody of the three accused was sought on the grounds that the police is trying to find out like whether property was the reason to commit the crime and if there are more people involved in the crime even from outside the state. The police is also trying to determine the location of the mobile phone, clothes and other articles used by Sheena at the time of incident, and in order to do so, offices of the accused need to be searched. Police sources have claimed that the three accused are not cooperating in the investigation. The police are trying to find out why no missing complaint was lodged for Sheena and on what basis they chose that particular spot in Pen to burn the body. According to sources, Skype was used by accused to hatch the conspiracy and they want to investigate the matter in detail.