Khanna was in Bandra hotel on the night of murder: Staff
MUMBAI: The employee of the Bandra hotel where Indrani Mukerjea’s former husband, Sanjeev Khanna, stayed on the night of Sheena Bora’s murder identified him in court on Wednesday.
The receptionist, Minquen D’souza, was examined as the 22nd witness by the prosecution on Wednesday. On the basis of the hotel’s register, D’souza told the court that Khanna had arrived at the hotel on April 24, 2012, and left by early morning on April 25, 2012.
As per the prosecution’s case, Mukerjea, Khanna, and the driver Shyamwar Rai had killed Bora in the car on the evening of April 24. The next day they dumped her body in a bag near Pen village in Raigad.
Following D’souza’s testimony, the prosecution pointed out that Khanna had left the hotel at 4am on April 25, 2012 and the register reflected the checkout time. The prosecution’s claim is that after checking out, Khanna had gone with Mukerjea and Rai to dispose of Bora’s body.
The claim has been contested by the defence and Khanna did not deny that he stayed at the hotel. He did, however, deny his role in the murder and claims he never met Mukerjea, either on the evening of April 24, 2012, or on the morning of April 25, 2012.
D’souza was cross-examined by Khanna’s lawyers Niranjan Mundargi and Shreyansh Mithare. The receptionist revealed that he did not write down Khanna’s check-out time, nor did he witness it being noted down.
D’souza also told the court that while he had prepared the bill, he now does not remember if Khanna had left from the hotel early in the morning or later. However, the witness claimed he had prepared the bill at night before Khanna checked-out.