After 10 years of his fiancé Sheena Bora’s ‘murder’, Rahul Mukerjea deposes as witness

The CBI alleged that Sheena was murdered on that day by Indrani and two others after she was dropped by Rahul in Bandra. Rahul, one of the prime witnesses in the case, told the court that on the day of the alleged murder, Sheena and Indrani had planned to meet for dinner.

Rahul dropped Sheena to Bandra where they had decided to meet near Amarsons shop. He told the court that he had seen Indrani sitting in the backseat, her former driver and now approver in the case, Shyamvar Rai, sitting in the driver’s seat and a man standing near the car, he identified as Sanjeev Khanna, former husband and co-accused of Indrani.

“Sheena got off and walked towards the car. Before getting down, she said ‘Bye, I love you, I will see you later’,” Rahul told the court. In his deposition, he submitted later that they exchanged a few texts after he dropped Sheena and she told him that she was having fun. He also said that later in the night he received a message from Sheena’s phone that she was planning to stay the night with Indrani. The next morning, he did not hear from her despite repeated calls.

“Later, I got a text message from her phone that she will be home in a couple of hours. But within 20 minutes, I got another text that she has met somebody else and that he was wealthy and she was very happy with him. She said that she does not love me anymore and said that I should not contact her,” Rahul said.

He said he was shocked as they were engaged to be married. He insisted that Sheena call him to convey what she had texted but received another text stating that she may call him in a couple of months.

Rahul told the court that in 2009 when Sheena was in Delhi, he had found out that she was given certain medications, which were antipsychotic and sedative pills when she did not need such medicines. He told the court that after her text message to him on April 24, 2012, he thought something similar had happened. “I thought maybe she was sedated and someone else was sending the messages. I never thought something had happened to her life, that she was in danger,” he told the court.

He recalled various instances of exchanges between Indrani and Sheena, including an incident in 2009 when he and Sheena were living together and they were separated. Rahul also told the court that after Sheena’s disappearance, Indrani kept telling him different answers about Sheena’s location which made him feel that Indrani was not being ‘truthful’.

Rahul also said that he had attempted to file a complaint with three police stations but was turned away as policemen told him that Sheena had gone with her mother and she would return. He said that he had got the contact of Param Bir Singh, then a senior officer in the Maharashtra Police, through his mother’s friend. Singh had advised him to file a missing complaint, Rahul said.

Rahul’s examination-in-chief conducted by special public prosecutor Manoj Chaladan will continue on June 17. Meanwhile, Rai, who has turned approver in the case, has approached the Bombay High Court for bail. While Indrani and Peter are out on bail, the pleas of Khanna and Rai are pending in the HC. The accused in the case were arrested in 2015.