Mumbai, June 14 (IANS): In a bizarre development, the CBI has told a special Mumbai court that the bones and mortal remains purportedly of Mumbai executive Sheena Bora recovered by Raigad police after her murder 12 years ago, are reportedly "missing" and untraceable.
The revelation came up during the examination of a witness, Dr Zeba Khan, a forensic expert at the Sir J. J. Hospital here, who was the first person to confirm that the bones and other remains found were of a human being.
With the help of a local policeman, the bones were recovered by the Pen police in Raigad from the spot where Bora’s body was allegedly burnt and dumped in the deep forests near Gagode-Khurd village.
Police said that Bora, an executive with Mumbai Metro, was allegedly eliminated by her mother, and her ex-husband in connivance with her driver on April 24, 2012, but the shocking killing came to light only around August 2015.
At the court hearing on May 7, Public Prosecutor C.J. Nandode, appearing for the CBI, sought to show the bones that were recovered, for identification by Dr Khan, but despite a diligent search, they could not be located. At the next hearing on Thursday, the CBI admitted that the two marked packets containing the evidence (bones) could not be traced, and the examination of the witness (Dr Khan) would continue without showing it to her, though it was crucial for the case.
According to the prosecution, Bora’s mother and former media baroness Indrani Mukerjea, along with her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyamvar Rai, had strangled her in a car on the night of April 24, 2012. Later that night, they took her body, concealed in a suitcase, down to Gagode-Khurd, burnt the bag, and dumped the remnants in the forest before returning home early the next morning.
A month later, the burnt bones and remains were found by the local police, but the sensational murder case came to light only in August 2015, after the arrests of Rai, Indrani and later Khanna. Indrani was released on bail in May 2022, while Rai was released earlier after he agreed to become a prosecution witness in the case.