Sheena Bora murder: Defence claims Shyamvar Rai was in custody days before he was shown as arrested

Sheena Bora, daughter of Indrani Mukerjea. (File Photo)

The defence in the Sheena Bora murder case Friday claimed  that accused-turned-approver Shyamvar Rai was in custody of the police days before his arrest on August 21, 2015. Sudeep Pasbola, advocate for the accused, Indrani Mukerjea, made the suggestion while cross-examining Rai. The cross-examination on behalf of Indrani concluded on Friday after over four months, having begun on August 1.

Pasbola asked Rai about his employment days before his arrest. Rai, who earlier worked as a driver for the Mukerjeas, was not employed with them since 2012. Rai answered that he had not been working for a few days before his arrest. Pasbola further asked him who his last employer was, to which Rai said he was working with Samir Buddha. Samir, who was previously working with INX Media, founded by Indrani and Peter, is the brother of former policeman Sohail Buddha. The CBI has added Samir as a witness by including his statement in its second supplementary chargesheet.”

“You (Rai) are claiming that you had not been going to work a few days before your arrest, because you were in police custody. You were missing for days before the day of your arrest (August 21). You were in police custody a few days prior to the date of arrest,” Pasbola suggested to Rai, which he denied. Rai was arrested on August 21 by the Khar police. The police claim it was his arrest that led them to the alleged murder of Sheena Bora on April 24, 2012.
Pasbola told Rai he had agreed to become a witness as per the instructions of the police and had come up with the “false story” of the kidnapping and murder. Rai was further cross-examined about his “repeated” phone calls with two numbers on the day of his arrest. The defence claimed it was the users of these numbers who had helped him in contacting the police.

Rai has denied all these suggestions made by Pasbola. The defence lawyers for the accused Sanjeev Khanna, advocates Niranjan Mundergi and Shreyansh Mithare, began cross-examination on Friday. Rai was cross-examined on his driving licence. The cross-examination will continue on Monday.