Mumbai : In what could be a significant turning point in the Sheena Bora murder case, a special CBI court here on Monday pardoned driver Shyamvar Rai — one of the prime accused in the case — and permitted him to become an approver.
Rai claims to be privy to what had transpired on April 24-25, 2012, when Sheena was allegedly abducted by Indrani and her former husband, strangulated to death, her body burnt and disposed of in Raigad, 100 km south of Mumbai.
Special Judge H.S. Mahajan, while granting the pardon, instructed Rai to speak the truth about the entire episode. With this, Rai — the former driver of Indrani Mukerjea — who was arrested in August 2015 — is no longer an accused and has become a prosecution witness.
In early May, Rai had submitted a two-page applica-tion in the court seeking pardon and offering to become an approver by revealing the entire truth in the sensational murder case.
Daughter of Indrani from an earlier liaison, Sheena Bora was allegedly strangulated on April 24, 2012, and her body was burnt and disposed of in the forests near Gagode village of adjoining Raigad district early the next morning. Besides Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna was allegedly in the car in which the murder took place.
The case came to light after Rai was arrested for possessing an illegal weapon last year by the Khar police. Under interrogation, he spilled the beans on the murder case. Subsequently, he sought a pardon in return for turning an approver. Earlier this month, the CBI in its reply to the application, said it had no objections to Rai turning an approver.
Rai has also told the investigators how a day before the murder, Indrani had allegedly conducted a recce of the spot and booked a room for her former husband in Hotel Hilltop in Worli as part of the conspiracy. Rai later led the CBI team to the exact site where Sheena’s body was dumped.
