Domestic help says Indrani asked him not to come to work on day Sheena Bora was killed

In his deposition in court on Monday, the domestic help of the Mukerjea family, Pradeep Waghmare, stuck to his statement given before the Central Bureau of Investigation during the investigation of the Sheena Bora murder case.

Waghmare was being examined by the CBI as the fourth witness in the case.Waghmare told the court that during Indrani Mukerjea’s visit to India in April 2012, she had asked him to not come for work during the days when she is suspected to have killed her daughter Sheena and planned to poison son Mekhail Bora.

According to the prosecution, Sheena was killed by Indrani on April 24, 2012. On the same day, Indrani with the help of her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamwar Rai allegedly planned to kill her son Mekhail.

Waghmare on Monday said that Indrani had asked him to not come for work from April 23, 2012 to April 25, 2012. He said said he attended his duty only from April 25, 2012 on the instruction of Indrani’s secretary Kajal Sharma.

Waghmare maintained that on the day he resumed work, Rahul Mukerjea had visited the Marlow building at Worli where Indrani stayed with Peter Mukerjea.

Waghmare said Rahul frequented the house in search of Sheena as she had gone missing. Waghmare also claimed that after Rahul’s visit he had a telephone conversation on April 25 with Peter Mukerjea about Rahul. “I told Peter sir that Rahul was asking about Sheena madam,” Waghmare told the court. He further said that during the conversation Peter told him that - ‘Madam ne Sheena ko Rahul se chudaya he’ (Madam freed Sheena from Rahul) – and hung up the call.

As per the prosecution case, CBI has claimed that Peter was part of the conspiracy and knew that Sheena was not missing but was murdered by Indrani.

Further, Waghmare said that on the day he resumed work, Rai had approached him with a bag. “He brought a big bag. He told me madam had bought it to keep clothes but now she doesn’t require it so I can keep it. I agreed to keep the bag and took it home,” Waghmare said.

The prosecution claimed that the bag was bought by Indrani to dispose of Mekhail’s body after his murder. However, as the plan did not succeed the bag was handed over to Waghmare. CBI had seized the bag during its investigation . Waghmare identified it as the same bag in court on Monday.

Waghmare further confirmed his statement before the court on Monday about his visit to Kolkata in 2014. He told the court that on Indrani’s instruction, he had gone to Kolkata where he was asked to meet a person named Sujit.

Waghmare said Indrani had asked him to buy a bottle of toothpaste and empty it. He claimed he was asked to fill the bottle with the substance provided by the said person. “However, as the person did not turn up Indrani asked me to return. I came back to the city by flight,” Waghmare said.