The lawyer of former television executive Peter Mukerjea told the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Monday that his client had no role to play in the conspiracy to murder Sheena Bora.
Mr. Mukerjea, who was arrested by the CBI on November 19, 2015, has been in judicial custody from December 2015. His last bail plea was rejected on November 16, 2016. Advocate Shrikant Shivade said Mr. Mukerjea had only made a few phone calls to his wife Indrani Mukerjea, and prima facie there was no material to deny him bail.
Mr. Shivade said driver Shyamvar Rai, the accused-turned-prosecution witness, had also not made any mention of Mr. Mukerjea.
The main charges
The accused has been charged under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 120b (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 302 (punishment for murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The advocate said Mr. Mukerjea has either served the full sentence with respect to the charges or half of it.
He relied upon an email dated April 2, 2011, which revealed tension between Indrani and Sheena, but no allegations against Mr. Mukerjea. Mr. Shivade said there was no “motive” for his client to conspire to kill Sheena. He said two witnesses had said Mr. Mukerjea was not happy with his son Rahul’s relationship with Sheena as he wanted to first see him settle in work.
The special CBI court will continue to hear the arguments on January 11.