‘Six and a half years is a long time’, this is exactly what the Supreme Court judges said while granting bail to Indrani Mukherjee, one of the main accused in Sheena Bora’s murder on Wednesday. After a long six and a half years, the Supreme Court granted bail to Indrani, who is accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bara.
She was arrested by the police on August 25, 2015. Since then Baikulla Jail in Mumbai has been her only permanent address. Soon after her arrest, the CBI got the responsibility of investigating Sheena Bora’s murder. Indrani’s lawyers applied for bail in the Supreme Court in February 2022 after her bail was repeatedly denied by the Special CBI Court. It was approved on Wednesday. However, the case against her for killing her daughter will continue.
According to court sources, a bench of Justice L Nageshwar Rao, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice BR Gawai granted bail to Indrani. The judges said they would not comment on the allegations that Indrani had killed her daughter Sheena. But Indrani has been in jail for six and a half years. Even if 50% of the evidence against her is still given, it is still too late for the case to end. That is why the decision of bail was taken keeping in mind the health of Indrani. However, she will not be able to leave the country. She cannot communicate with witnesses. Earlier, her other daughter Bidhi used to visit the jail regularly. This time the court imposed a ban on that.
Veteran lawyer Mukul Rohatgi is questioning on behalf of Indrani. He said that Indrani was suffering from a serious brain disease. He also said that the case will not end in 10 years. Another accused in this case, Indrani’s husband Peter Mukherjee was granted bail by the court in 2020. Indrani and Peter got divorced in 2019 while they were in jail. Indrani’s lawyer Sana Rais is currently awaiting a full direction from the judges. He will submit the order to the CBI’s special court in Mumbai. Rais said he was trying to get Indrani out of Baikulla jail by Friday. After getting bail, she will stay in a bungalow named Marlowe in Mumbai.
According to police sources, Sheena was killed on April 24, 2012. Her body was found in the jungles of Raigarh in Maharashtra. Indrani and her second husband Peter Mukherjee were charged with conspiracy to kill her daughter Shina. Police claim that Sheena was involved in a love affair with Peter’s son Rahul. That is why she had to be killed. In a letter to the CBI in December 2021, Indrani claimed that Sheena was alive. She claimed that Sheena was in Kashmir and requested an inquiry. However, the application was rejected by the CBI court.
The Apex Court announced that the bail conditions will be like the ones which were granted by Bombay High court in case of co-accused Peter. A bail was given to him on the surety of 2 lakh rupees.