A CBI special court on Tuesday rejected the interim bail plea for th second time of accused-turned-approver in the Sheena Bora murder case and prime accused Indrani Mukerjea's former driver - Shyamvar Rai.
The court had on July 22 rejected the earlier interim bail plea of Rai. It had received this second plea a day before the earlier plea was rejected. The present plea was filed on the same grounds as the previous plea.
The earlier plea had claimed interim bail on the grounds of the pandemic and the recommendations of the High Power Committee for de-congestion of prisons, in which those accused of murder could also apply for interim bail.
In a reply filed by the CBI Special Public Prosecutor Manoj Chaladan to this present plea, he told the court that Rai’s earlier plea on the same grounds was already rejected and the present one be too.
While rejecting the first interim bail application the court had noted that that as per a section of the criminal procedure code concerning tender of pardon to an accomplice, Rai is not entitled to bail until the termination of trial or unless and until there are some extraordinary circumstances. Special CBI judge JC Jagdale had also said in his order that there is every possibility that he may be called for evidence by either the prosecution or the defence.
Rai has been in prison since his arrest in 2015 while he was allegedly apprehended while trying to dispose of a pistol. It is after his arrest during interrogation, that the agency says, he revealed about his involvement in the murder of Sheena Bora three years ago in April 2012. Subsequently, his former employer Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and then husband and former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea came to be arrested. They are all facing trial now. While Peter Mukerjea is out on bail after a High Court order, Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna are in prison.
