Sheena Bora case: CBI lists ex-Mumbai top cop Rakesh Maria, 22 others as 'unreliable' witnesses

Sheena Bora/ File Picture

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has declared 23 witnesses, including former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, as 'unreliable' in the Sheena Bora murder case, according to the report in PTI. This decision was conveyed to a special CBI court in Mumbai.

According to the report, Sheena Bora, Indrani Mukerjea's daughter from a previous relationship, is alleged to have been murdered, along with her ex-husbands Peter Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna. Peter Mukerjea is said to have had involvement in the 2012 murder of Sheena, which was allegedly carried out by Indrani, Khanna, and driver Shyamvar Rai. Rai's arrest in a separate case in 2015 brought the case to light.

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Before the case was turned over to the CBI, the inquiry was first overseen by Rakesh Maria, the Police Commissioner of Mumbai at the time, the report added.

According to the report in PTI, earlier, Indrani had asked the court to order the CBI to produce a list of the witnesses they planned to question. A list of 92 witnesses for the trial was given by the CBI in April; Vidhi Mukerjea, the daughter of Indrani and Peter, was not among them. Vidhi Mukerjea is not included in the CBI's latest list, even though her statement is included in the agency's chargesheet.

Apart from Maria, other persons included in the "unreliable witnesses" list were the city police's Dinesh Kadam, the former joint commissioner of police Satyanarayan Chaudhary, and the jailors SS Wagh and Supriya Channey.

Rakesh Maria was accused by Indrani's defence team of orchestrating her implication and interfering with the investigation. The Supreme Court granted Indrani bail in May 2022, noting the length of his six-and-a-half-year prison sentence and the expected length of the trial.

Reportedly, earlier in June, a special court had asked the CBI to expedite the trial in the Sheena Bora murder case, in which her mother Indrani Mukerjea is among the four accused. According to the previous report, the ruling was issued by the court in response to a plea filed by Mukerjea asking for the trial to be expedited and held on a daily or weekly basis.

On June 20, Special CBI Judge S P Naik-Nimbalkar granted her plea. In her petition, Mukerjea said that the prosecution (CBI) had already questioned 71 witnesses and had provided a list of 92 more who needed to be questioned about the case.