CBI opposes 2nd bail plea by Peter Mukerjea

The CBI on Wednesday opposed the second bail application filed by former media mogul Peter Mukerjea in connection with the murder of his stepdaughter Sheena Bora.

Peter’s first bail application was rejected by the special CBI court on the grounds that the investigation was in progress and the chargesheet had not been filed in the case. However, Peter moved the second bail application through Advocate Kushal Mor after the CBI filed a chargesheet against him.

He claimed in his bail plea that the chargesheet did not have “reasonable grounds” to hold him guilty. There was no further justification for keeping him in custody, as there were no “reasonable grounds” in the chargesheet to believe that “he had been guilty of the offences with which he was charged,” it said.

As per the chargesheet, Peter’s motive for committing the crime (participating in the conspiracy to murder Sheena) was that he was against the relationship between Sheena and his son, Rahul Mukerjea. His bail application said this was “demonstrably untrue and unsustainable,” citing emails exchanged between his son and him in December 2011, which the application said proved that Peter was not opposed to Rahul and Sheena’s engagement.

The CBI, in its reply to Peter’s bail, said that he was part of the conspiracy to kill Sheena and he had misled Rahul about Sheena. The CBI counsel also told the court that the investigation in the case was still on and the CBI had evidence to prove its case against Peter and hence, he should not be granted bail. After hearing the arguments, special judge H.S. Mahajan adjourned the hearing.