Deposing before the special Central Bureau of Investigation court, Shyamvar Rai, who worked as a driver for Indrani Mukerjea, reiterated his earlier statement, which had said that Mukerjea wanted to kill Sheena Bora and Mikhail Bora.
Rai, earlier an accused and now an approver in the case, in his confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on November 16, had said that he and Mukerjea had talked over Skype to plan the killings of not just Sheena but Mikhail as well.
He said on Friday that Mukerjea contacted him towards the end of March 2011, via Skype, and that all further communication about the plan for the murder had been via the same online service.
His statement said, “Indrani madam told me over Skype that Sheena and Mikhail had been defaming her as their mother, and that she wanted to kill them.
“She told me that a man from Calcutta (Sanjeev Khanna, her former husband) will arrive shortly to execute the killings.” He recounted that in April 2011, at the Marlow building (the Mukherjeas’ residence), “Indrani madam asked me to call Mikhail up and tell him that there was a lot of money in Indrani’s flat, and so if he arrives there, myself and Mikhail could share the money equally. However, Mikhail had refused to come to Mumbai.”
On April 22, 2012, Rai said, Mukerjea instructed him to check up the roads of Lonavala, Khopoli, and Khandala via the old Mumbai Pune highway before she arrived in Mumbai. The next day, Mukerjea accompanied him through the same route and identified spots that would be ‘fit’ to dispose of the bodies of Sheena and Mikhail.
He said that Mukerjea had told him to buy a 20-litre storage can, and to purchase prescription medicines from a pharmacy, and that a location near Pen district would be a good place to dispose Sheena’s body; Mukerjea also bought two bags, three pairs of shoes (one pair women’s shoes and two men’s pairs) and two sarees, and then they went back home. She also told him bring a bottle of vodka and two bottles of water to her home with the medicines. She put the medicines in the water bottle and mixed them well.
On April 24, 2012, Rai said, he and Mukerjea picked up Sheena from Bandra. Sheena sat with Mukerjea in the back of the car. While they were still in Bandra, Mukerjea strangled Sheena; Khanna who had been sitting in the front, with Rai, moved to the back and held Sheena’s hair; Rai was asked to cover her mouth, and while he tried to do that, Sheena bit his finger and it started bleeding.
Later, Rai told the court, Khanna poured fuel on Sheena’s body. Mukerjea and Khana left the city. Mukerjea instructed Rai not tell to anyone anything and to take care of the things she gave him. After some days, he found a revolver amongst his belongings, which he try to throw in the sea, but he was caught by the police and had to reveal the entire murder plot.
Rai’s deposition will continue on August 1, where he is expected to narrate what happened after the murder.
.
