INDRANI LAWYER QUIZZES EX-INX STAFF OVER SHEENA TEXTS

MUMBAI: Indrani Mukerjea’s lawyer on Monday questioned Sameer Buddha, a former INX Services employee, about the messages exchanged between him and Sheena Bora, a few days before her murder. The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court was recording Buddha’s testimony in the ongoing trial of the murder case.

Mukerjea, Bora’s mother, is one of the prime accused in the case. Buddha, the brother of former police officer Sohail, is an ex-employee of INX Services, a company set up by Mukerjea and her husband, Peter. Before his arrest in August 2015, Mukerjea’s driver, Shyamwar Rai had also been working with Buddha.

Mukerjea’s lawyer, Sudeep Pasbola, on Monday, questioned Buddha about the messages exchanged between him and Bora on April 21, 22 and 23 in 2012. He was also questioned if he had met Bora on April 24, 2012 —the day she was allegedly killed by Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai— at a five-star hotel, to give her a phone she had asked for. Buddha replied that the correspondence between him and Bora must have been with reference to the configuration of her laptop as Mukerjea had asked him to help Bora with buying a laptop.

When asked if he met Bora on April 24, Buddha denied and claimed he had never met her outside work. Pasbola also questioned Buddha if he had accompanied officers of the Khar police station on August 27, 2015, when Bora’s body was allegedly exhumed. Buddha was also questioned about the car which Peter’s son, Rahul, allegedly left at the airport parking in May 2012, before leaving for Guwahati. Buddha had allegedly arranged the car’s transfer to the INX office on Peter’s instructions.

As per the prosecution, Rahul had allegedly dropped off Bora in the car at Bandra, where she had met Mukerjea, and was seen for the last time.