Shyamwar Rai, Indrani Mukerjea’s driver and a co-accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, sought pardon from a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday, with a request that he be made an approver.
Judge H.S. Mahajan accepted Mr Rai’s application on Wednesday and asked the prosecution to file a reply. He posted the matter for hearing on May 17.
There has been speculation over whether Mr. Rai would seek to become an approver ever since Ms. Mukerjea was arrested on August 25, 2015. Mr. Rai turning an approver is of considerable significance, especially for the prosecution, considering that his statement before the court will be treated as evidence.
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Mr. Rai, in his statement first to the Khar police, and later to the CBI, had revealed the entire chain of events on April 24 and 25, 2012, when Sheena was murdered, and her body was dumped and burnt in Raigad, 120 kilometres south of Mumbai.
Mr. Rai told the investigators that Ms. Mukerjea had conducted a reconnaissance in Raigad district on April 23, 2012, to dump Sheena’s body. She had then returned to book a room for her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, also an accused in the case, at a Worli hotel.
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Sheena, who was initially reluctant to meet her mother, agreed to the meeting after Ms. Mukerjea extended an offer to have dinner together. Around 6 p.m., Mr. Rai and Ms. Mukerjea drove to the Worli hotel and picked up Mr. Khanna. The three reached National College, Bandra, around 6.45 p.m., and waited for Sheena. Indrani had carefully chosen a crowded spot on Linking Road, which had numerous roadside shops, fast food joints, and restaurants, to avoid any suspicion, Mr. Rai had told the CBI.
When Sheena arrived around 7 p.m., she got into the car and sat in the rear seat with Mr. Khanna. Ms. Mukerjea, who was sitting in the front seat instructed Mr. Rai to drive into one of the deserted by-lanes near National College.
Mr. Khanna strangulated Sheena inside the car, while Ms. Mukerjea held her legs. The three accused then drove back to the Mukerjeas’ bungalow on Pochkhanwala Road in Worli, where the body was put in a bag and stuffed in the boot of the car. Mr. Rai told the police that he slept inside the car with the body in the boot.
On April 25, 2012, Ms. Mukerjea, Mr. Khanna, and Mr. Rai drove to an isolated spot on the Raigad highway, dumped Sheena’s body in a thickly-forested area, and burnt it. Soon after, all the three accused returned to Mumbai, and Mr. Khanna left for Kolkata the same day.