The Central Bureau of In- vestigation (CBI) approached the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, seeking a stay on the release of a documentary series on Netflix based on Indrani Mukerjea, who is facing trial for having allegedly killed her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha Deshpande said it would hear the plea on Thursday and in the meanwhile, asked the mak ers of the docu-series to indicate if any of the witnesses, who are yet to be examined in the trial, were featured in the series.
The CBI approached the HC after a special court rejected its plea, seeking a stay on the series, on Tuesday.
The docu-series, titled "The Indrani Mukerjea Story: The Buried Truth', delves into the disappearance of 25 year-old Bora. It features interviews with Indrani, her lawyers and several witnesses in the case. It is scheduled to premiere on the OTT plat form Netflix, on February 23.
CBI advocate Shreeram Shirsat urged the court to stay the show, saying that the trial was ongoing before the sessions court and the show would be likely to influence the witnesses. He said the agency was not seeking a complete ban on the release of the series, but only sought a stay on its release till the conclusion of the trial.
Shirsat said that the agency was considering filing an application seeking the cancellation of the bail granted to Indrani Mukerjea, as she was breaching the condition imposed on her to not influence witnesses.
The Central agency said that so far, 89 of 237 witnesses had been examined before the trial court. Counsel for Netflix Ravi Kadam argued that details of the case were already in the public domain and four books had already been released, including one by Indrani herself. Besides, the trial was likely to go on for some time, he added.
Kadam emphasised there was nothing in the series which is unavailable in public domain. "Can't have a pre-publication restraint. See it and then decide," he added. After viewing the trailer of the series, Justice Dere questioned whether any of the witnesses, who are yet to depose before the trial court, had been featured. The bench asked CBI to share the list of witnesses with the counsel.
