Indrani’s ex-husband, driver taken to Raigad to recreate crime scene

MUMBAI: Indrani Mukerjea’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai were taken in a police vehicle from Khar police station to Raigad to recreate the events that occurred on the night of April 24, 2012.

The three accused allegedly took Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora’s body to a forest near Gagode village in Pen Tehsil of Raigad district, where they burnt it with petrol.

Recreating a crime scene is a significant step for the investigators because it helps them go through the exact sequence of events and gather evidence, if any. Khanna and Rai, with their faces covered, were whisked away around 12.03pm on Sunday from the suburban police station, where they were being questioned.

Khanna, who until Saturday was wearing a cream kurta, was given a fresh pair of clothes — a red coloured t-shirt. The driver was made to sit in the back seat of the car. There was also an unidentified person in the car wearing a charcoal-coloured t-shirt. There was speculation this was the travel agent through whom the police traced the Opel Corsa used to commit the murder on April 24, 2012.

According to the investigation so far, Sheena was lured by Indrani -- believed to be the mastermind behind the crime -- to meet her at a spot near National College in Bandra that evening. Later, Sheena was strangulated in the vehicle and her body taken to the isolated spot near Pen. There the accused allegedly poured petrol on Sheena’s body, set it afire and decamped from the spot.

A village official in Raigad district, who helped the Mumbai police team locate the spot where Sheena was allegedly buried, said when he first spotted the body in 2012 it was just a skeleton. “The local government doctor took it for post mortem, after which it was buried,” Police Patil Ganesh Dhene of Hetevne village said.

Asked how he came across the skeletal remains, Dhene said,“I had gone to collect mangoes. The body was not in a suitcase. The surrounding area was burnt.”

Earlier, a team of police officers had taken Rai to the by lanes of Bandra to the exact location where the car was allegedly stopped and Sheena was strangulated.

All the three accused will be produced before a metropolitan court on Monday so the police can seek to extend their custody.