Sheena case: car traced, accused to be taken to crime spot

The car in which Sheena Bora was allegedly killed was today traced while questions cropped up of a cover-up by police in not registering a case of murder or accidental death 3 years ago when a partially-burnt body believed to be hers was found.

The Mumbai police today continued the interrogation of three main suspects--Sheena's mother Indrani Mukherjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyam Rai all of whom are to be taken to the spot in Pen tehsil of Raigad district where the body was found a month after the murder in April, 2012.

Indrani's son and Sheena's brother Mikhail Bora was questioned at a hotel here. Police said Khanna and Indrani were giving evasive replies.

"We have traced the car. The car had changed many hands in three years and we are yet to recover it," said a senior police official.

The police also said they will be taking the three arrested accused to Raigad district to recreate the crime scene. The police also sought call data records of the three accused.

As the investigation focused on forensic examination of the skeletal remains found in Pen tehsil, the police also admitted that no due procedure was followed when the body was first found on May 23, 2012.

Raigad police virtually confessed to the casual way in which they treated the case when a burnt body was spotted, a month after Sheena was believed to have been murdered.

"Neither a crime, nor a report of accidental death was registered when Raigad police sent recovered skeletal remains to JJ hospital (in Mumbai) in 2012," the current Raigad superintendent of police Suvez Haque told reporters in Alibag, the district headquarters.

"I have been ordered to probe all the wrongs or lapses that were committed," said Haque, who took over as Raigad SP earlier this year.

"We have given a factual report to our seniors. Inspector General of Police (Konkan Range) yesterday ordered an inquiry. We will complete it at the earliest and produce our report," he said.

As the SP's disclosure raised the question whether there was any cover-up of the crime back in 2012, Maharashtra DGP Sanjeev Dayal told PTI today that an inquiry has been ordered, and action will be taken against the erring officials.