New Delhi: Opposing the bail plea of former media baron Indrani Mukerjea – prime accused in her own daughter Sheena Bora's murder case - the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday told the Supreme Court that she committed a “heinous act of planning and killing her own daughter” and “such a gruesome act does not deserve leniency”.
Urging the court to dismiss her plea for bail, the CBI told a bench comprising Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice B.R. Gavai that Ms Mukerjea is an influential person who can influence the witnesses yet to be examined and expressed apprehension that she may tamper with evidence.
“There is every apprehension that she will threaten, intimidate or induce the prosecution witnesses, will tamper with the evidence and will abscond if enlarged on bail”, the investigating agency told the top court.
The CBI said this in an affidavit in response to a notice issued by the top court on March 18 on Ms Mukerjea's plea for bail.
Opposing her plea for bail on the grounds of the heinous act of planning and killing her own daughter, could influence the witnesses, tamper with evidence, CBI also said that if granted bail she may flee from the country as she is a British national and this will seriously hamper the ongoing trial in the case.
The CBI said that she is undergoing proper treatment in Byculla Women's Jail in Mumbai, where 24-hour emergency medical facilities are available.
Court gave Indrani Mukerjea two weeks’ time to file her rejoinder to the CBI’s reply. Indirani Mukerjea was arrested in August 2015. She is presently in judicial custody while her trial is underway before the Special CBI court in Mumbai.
It was in April 2012 that Sheena was allegedly strangled in a car by Indrani, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna.
The high-profile murder case hit headlines in 2015 when her driver spilled the beans while he was being interrogated in another case.
The CBI case is that Indrani disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, the son of her then husband Peter Mukerjea from an earlier marriage. Peter is out on bail in the case.
