Sheena Bora case: Peter not criminal, says defence lawyer

The defence lawyer on Tuesday completed its arguments seeking bail for former media baron Peter Mukerjea saying that he is not a criminal. The law says he is innocent till proven guilty, the evidence against him is very weak and jail is not a place for him to live and hence, he should be granted bail, the lawyer said.

Advocate Abad Ponda, on behalf of Peter, pointed out to the court that like his stepdaughter Vidhi and stepson Mikhail, his wife Indrani had sent several SMSes and e-mails to him and like others he was also under the impression that Sheena Bora was alive and fine and hence he had assured his son Rahul of the same.

He argued before special judge H.S. Mahajan that the CBI had pointed out to the court small portions of e-mails because it wanted to implicate Peter, however if complete mails and SMSes are read than these documents actually prove that Peter is innocent. He pointed to several such portions from different statements and e-mails, which included the statement of IPS officer Deven Bharti also.

“There is a contradiction in Bharti’s statement,” said Mr Ponda. He said that in his first statement Mr Bharti had said that family members had given him Sheena’s cellphone number, requesting him to trace it and on their request he had asked a crime branch officer to do the job and “location was ascertained through nodal officer and was informed to family.” He further said that in his second statement the police officer had said that the family called him the next day saying the mobile phone was traced and there was no need to find its location, so he asked his officer not to work on it.

Mr Ponda also claimed that Indrani did not need Peter to speak to Bharti. He said that there were around eight to 10 phone calls between Indrani and this officer and some SMSes were exchanged between them but the officer did not mention this in his statement.

After the defence completed its arguments, special public prosecutor Bharat Badami said he would start his arguments on Wednesday. However, Mr Badami stated that Peter had claimed that he could not be involved in a conspiracy because he was in London; in that case underworld don Dawood Ibrahim sitting in Pakistan had carried out bomb blasts in Mumbai.

A special CBI court in Mumbai has issued judicial requests to Singapore, Hong Kong and the US in the Sheena Bora murder case seeking details of financial transactions done by main accused Indrani Mukerjea and her husband Peter. CBI sources said the Letters Rogatory will be sent through diplomatic channels to judicial authorities of Singapore, Hong Kong and the US with a request to provide desired information. The agency which has named in the chargesheet Sheena’s mother Indrani, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai for allegedly murdering her has now focused its attention on money as possible motive behind the killing. 24-year-old Sheena, Indrani’s daughter from her first marriage, was allegedly murdered in April 2012. Peter was also arrested in the case. Earlier, the agency had told the court that it has sought Interpol’s help for access to overseas bank accounts of the Mukerjeas.