Mumbai: The Sheena murder case spilled into the courtroom on Monday with the Mumbai police widening the ambit of the case by slapping Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code on prime accused Indrani Mukerjea by accusing her of attempting to kill her son Mikhail Bora as well.
The reference is possibly to the hiring of a hit man for this job, who was allegedly paid Rs 2.5 lakh to bump off Mikhail. Indrani has also been accused of trying to poison Mikhail by offering him a spiked drink while he was lodged in a hotel at Worli.
The remand application says that her further interrogation is also required because there is a suspicion that more people from outside the state were involved in the crime.
The public prosecutor also made out a case that the investigators wanted to further probe the exact motive behind Sheena’s murder and were trying to ascertain where the accused had dumped the victim’s clothes, mobile phone and other belongings after the killing. Indrani and the two other prime accused made their first appearance in the court on Monday. The accused were ferried to the court in different vehicles – their faces duly covered – and were not allowed to exchange a word.
Attempt to murder also slapped on Indrani when she seemed to faint. Her daughter Vidhie also broke down on hearing the order, as per which her custody has been extended till September 5. It was apparent from the word go that Indrani’s lawyers intend to make the most of the fact that the case until now is entirely circumstantial and based on the ‘confessions’ of the driver and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna.
No wonder, the opening gambit of the lawyers was that the police were using pressure tactics to force a confession from Indrani, that she had been allegedly slapped while in custody and that she was being denied access to her lawyers.
A defence lawyer representing Indrani put his cards on the table when he said that his client’s fundamental rights were being violated. “Even a single minute was not given to us to consult Indrani privately. It is her fundamental right.” Lawyer Gunjan Mangla also pointed out that the police was obliged to comply with the Supreme Court order in this respect. It is understood that Mangla had taken permission from the Bandra court to meet Indrani, but she was still not allowed.
As an army of journalists mobbed the court, her lawyers also said that Indrani had been interrogated for around 90 hours since her arrest here on August 25 and there was no need to question her any more.
