The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted an ad-interim stay on a special court’s order that allowed Indrani Mukerjea, accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012 and currently out on bail, to travel to Europe.
Justice SV Kotwal said the Central Bureau of Investigation’s plea against the special court’s decision will be heard on July 29 by the regular bench of Justice SC Chandak, who was unavailable on Tuesday.
The CBI sought an urgent hearing before the alternate bench of Justice Kotwal, but he deferred it to the regular bench, granting temporary relief by staying the special court’s order. Indrani Mukerjea’s advocate, Ranjeet Sangle, noted that she can’t travel as she currently does not have her passport.
On July 19, the special CBI court had allowed Indrani to travel to Europe (Spain and the United Kingdom) for 10 days over the next three months under specific conditions. These included attending the Indian Embassy or allied diplomatic mission office during her visit for an attendance certificate and furnishing a security deposit of Rs. 2 lakh.
Indrani Mukerjea, arrested in August 2015, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in May 2022. She is accused of strangling her daughter Sheena Bora, 24, in April 2012 with the help of her then-driver Shyamvar Rai and former husband Sanjeev Khanna, before burning Bora’s body in a forest in Raigad district. The murder came to light in 2015 when Rai confessed during an interrogation for an unrelated case.
Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, Indrani’s ex-husband, was also arrested for alleged involvement in the conspiracy. All accused are currently out on bail.
