Supreme Court grants bail to Indrani Mukerjea in Sheena Bora murder case

The Supreme Court granted bail on Wednesday to former media executive Indrani Mukerjea in the 2012 murder case of her daughter Sheena Bora. The apex court noted that Mukerjea had remained in jail for more than six years and the trial was unlikely to be concluded anytime soon.

The Bench—of Justices L Nageswara Rao, A S Bopanna and B R Gavai—also noted that the case was based on circumstantial evidence, and that even if 50 per cent of the witnesses were given up by the prosecution, the trial would not get over soon.

Appearing for Mukerjea, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the court that she was unwell and had been in jail for more than six and a half years. He argued that with the way the proceedings were being managed, the trial would not come to an end even in 10 years.

Rohatgi also submitted that 185 witnesses were yet to be examined in the case, and that no one was examined in the past one and half years as the post of presiding judge had been vacant since June 2021. He pointed out that while Mukerjea was in jail, her husband Peter (now divorced) had been out on bail since March 2020.

The 50-year-old had been in jail since her arrest in 2015. In December, she had sent a letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claiming that the victim Sheena Bora—Mukerjea’s daughter from her first marriage—was alive. The CBI had made it clear that this angle in the investigation would not be taken up, unless the court intervenes.

Sheena Bora went missing in April 2012 and a complaint was filed. The Mumbai Police found a decomposed body in May 2012.

In 2015, the CBI took over the investigation. Indrani was arrested, along with her then husband Peter Mukerjea, based on a statement given by her former driver Shyamvar Rai. It was alleged that Indrani was not happy with Bora’s relationship with Rahul, Peter’s son from a previous marriage, which might have been the reason for Bora’s murder.

In November last year, the Bombay High Court rejected Indrani’s bail plea, noting that material in the form of circumstantial evidence strongly supported her direct involvement in the case.