Sheena Bora trial takes off, deferred to March

After a series of delays, the ‘trial’ in Sheena Bora murder case finally commenced on Thursday, that too for nearly 40 minutes. The hearing started before lunch break and concluded soon after lunch break and was later deferred till March 15 due to opposition by lawyers representing all three accused.

On Thursday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) started examining the police officer attached with Khar Police station, who had registered the First Information Report (FIR) in the case.

The officer identified as Ganesh Dalvi, had deposed in a special CBI court, which is hearing the Sheena Bora murder case. The counsel appearing for CBI, asked few questions to Dalvi over how driver Shyamvar Rai was arrested and what did he reveal initially. After a few questions, the CBI counsel asked the officer to narrate the details stated by Rai in his confessional statements before the police.

The question was vehemently opposed by advocates Shrikant Shivade, Shreyansh Mithare and Gunjan Mangla appearing for Peter Mukerjea, Sanjeev Khanna and Indrani, respectively.

The contention of all these lawyers was that the statements given by an accused to the police is ‘inadmissible’ as evidence in law. The lawyers also apprehended that Dalvi’s testimony (about Rai’s confession) can be later corroborated with other evidence and the same can go against their clients.

Special Judge Hemant Mahajan, while taking Dalvi’s testimony on record, also took some part of the panchnama pertaining to the statements of Rai. According to the advocate Mithare, the part of panchnama taken on record is basically a summary of Rai’s confessional statement and narrates the entire chronology of offence in brief.

The lawyers have now decided to challenge the order of special judge in the Bombay High Court.