 "Sheena Bora, Indrani Mukerjea")
A special CBI court on Friday rejected the bail application of Sanjeev Khanna, one of the accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case.
Special CBI judge H S Mahajan, after hearing the arguments of Khanna and CBI, rejected his bail plea.
Khanna, in his bail application filed through his lawyer Shreyansh Mithare, had said that he was not present when Sheena was strangled in a car here on April 24, 2012.
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According to the CBI, Sheena was picked up from Bandra here by her mother and prime accused Indrani Mukerjea — Khanna's former wife — around 6.30 pm that day, whereas Khanna had reached a Mumbai hotel at 6.04 pm, where he was to stay, the lawyers said.
"It was impossible for Khanna to reach the spot, where Indrani and Sheena were in such a short time," his lawyer had argued.
Refuting CBI's claim that Khanna was at Indrani's house at Marlow Bungalow in Worli, his lawyers said around that time he was ordering a meal at his hotel.
"The waiter, who served him in his room, took Khanna's signature on the bill," they said.
There was no "meeting of minds" between Khanna and Indrani to hatch the conspiracy, the lawyers added.
A key witness, who saw the body being disposed of, emerged three years after the incident and witnesses identified Khanna as his face was all over the media, his lawyers said.
The CBI, while arguing against the granting of bail to Khanna, told the court that he was in the know of the conspiracy and Indrani's former driver (who has turned approver), has named Khanna.
Indrani, Khanna and her current husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea are accused of conspiring to murder Sheena, Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, with a financial motive.
Her former driver Shaymvar Rai has turned approver in the case.
According to CBI, Indrani, Khanna and Rai were involved in the actual murder on April 24, 2012. Sheena was strangled inside a car and her body burnt in a forest in Raigad district.
