A day before Sheena’s murder, said Rai, he and Indrani conducted a recce to find a spot to dispose of her body.
Accused-turned-approver Shyamvar Rai claimed on Friday that nobody, including Rahul Mukerjea, had asked him about Sheena Bora’s disappearance. Rai was answering questions during his cross-examination by defence advocate Sudeep Pasbola representing Indrani Mukerjea.
The CBI has claimed that Rahul had dropped Sheena on the evening of April 24, 2012, near the National College in Bandra and that he had seen Rai and Indrani waiting outside in a silver-coloured car.
After Sheena failed to return that evening, Rahul had begun to search for her an had even attempted to file a missing complaint suspecting something amiss.
On Friday, Rai was first asked about calls with Sheena’s brother Mikhail. Rai told the court that he did not remember whether he had made or received any call to or from Mikhail between May 2012 and till his arrest in 2015. On being asked whether Mikhail had ever asked him about the whereabouts of Sheena, Rai said he did not remember.
Rai also told the court that he did not recollect if Mikhail had asked him about Sheena and whether he had lied to him that he did not know. When asked if anyone had ever asked him about Sheena, Rai said: “Nobody asked me as to what happened with Sheena.”
Asked if Kajal Sharma (Indrani’s secretary), Pradip Waghmare (another employee of the Mukerjea family) and Rahul had ever asked him about Sheena, Rai said: “No.”
Rai also told the court that while he continues to feel regret about the murder, he chose not to inform anyone till his arrest in 2015, as he had been instructed not to by Indrani.
“I was instructed by Indrani madam, therefore I did not feel that I should approach cops or tell anyone. She had told me that my job would only be that of a driver,” Rai said. When asked if he ever thought of seeking the help of Sohail Buddha, a former policeman, with whom he had worked, Rai replied in the negative.
Rai claimed that he felt regret when he was lodged in jail after his arrest in 2015 and had hence written to the court. He told the court that he had himself written a letter in Hindi stating that he wanted to reveal the truth in the Sheena Bora case. “I do not remember whether I had written that I wanted to confess to the crime,” he claimed.
Pasbola also questioned Rai about the garage at the Mukerjea’s Worli residence, Marlow building. Rai told the court that the Mukerjeas had one closed shutter garage on the ground floor of the building in a row of such garages.
On being asked if there were other flats on the ground floor, Rai said yes. He also said that the doors and windows of these flats faced the garage.
The CBI claims that Sheena’s body was kept at the garage in the intervening night of May 24-25 after she was murdered till the trio of Indrani, Sanjeev Khanna and Rai left in the morning to dispose of the body near Khopoli.
The cross-examination will continue on Monday.
