NEW DELHI: For six-and-a-half years, Sreyansh Mithare, a Mumbai lawyer, filed multiple bail applications in a lower city court and subsequently in the Bombay High Court, pleading that his client Sanjeev Khanna, accused of taking part in the murder of Sheena Bora in April 2012, was innocent and must be granted bail.
"In these years, I have been witness to bail being granted to the two principal accused, Peter Mukerjea and his now divorced wife Indrani Bora despite them being charged with murder of the latter's daughter. Such are the vagaries of law and justice," Mithare said as he lamented how his client, Khanna has suffered "for no reason".
Peter and Indrani Mukerjea's then driver Shyamwar Rai had turned an approver after initially being an accused in the murder case in 2015.
It is Mithare's contention that Khanna is "completely innocent" and that "from day one, we have steadfastly brought to the court's attention that he was in no way involved. He arrived in Mumbai in 2012 because Indrani asked him to come.
That fateful evening, he duly checked into Hilltop Hotel on Pochkanwala Road in Worli. Originally from Kolkata, Khanna was Indrani's second husband.
Today, as the Supreme Court granted bail to Indrani (who is lodged at Byculla Jail), Mithare said that his client would "of course feel disappointed". But Mithare is hopeful that the Supreme Court bail order in favour of Indrani "could be a factor" when Khanna's bail application comes up for hearing in the Bombay High Court on June 8.
The Bombay High Court granted the other accused Peter Mukerjea conditional bail on February 6, 2020. According to the bail terms, Peter cannot contact his son Rahul Mukerjea and Vidhie Mukerjea, Khanna's daughter. He must report to the CBI at regular intervals and surrender his passport to the CBI.
Even as the Sheena Bora murder case trial continues at its own pace in a Bombay court, Wednesday's Supreme Court bail order would weigh heavily on the trial court. Rahul, who contracted the Covid-19 virus a few days ago, is expected to give evidence in court on May 27.
Speaking to The New Indian Express over the phone, Indrani's lawyer, Sana Raees Khan, said her client was granted bail on the seventh attempt. Six previous bail applications, four of which were made on medical grounds, were earlier rejected at the level of the trial and high courts.
"Her health condition is not good even as she suffered from irreversible cerebral ischemia and has been living in deplorable conditions at Byculla Jail. She should, hopefully, be out as soon as the Supreme Court order reaches the jail authorities," Khan said.