Sheena murder: CBI quizzes DGP Rakesh Maria

In a significant development, the Central Bureau of Investigation has recorded the statements of DGP Rakesh Maria and two other senior IPS officers in connection with the ongoing probe into the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, official sources said on Thursday.

Besides Maria -- who was the high profile Mumbai police commissioner when the case broke out in August 2015, the CBI recorded the statements of present Joint Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti and Deputy Commissioner of Police S.N. Chowdhury.

The trio comprised the officials supervising the investigations into the case but the CBI has not indicated the outcome of the questioning.

The development came a week after the CBI filed its second supplementary chargesheet before a CBI Special Court in the high-profile murder case last Friday (October 21). It had filed the first supplementary chargesheet in February.

At the height of the investigations, Maria was abruptly transferred and promoted as DGP - Home Guards by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and later the case was yanked off Mumbai police and handed over to CBI.

The investigating teams set up by the police for probing the case were disbanded and the CBI launched its own investigations.

The case pertains to the murder of a 24-year old executive Sheena Bora and attempt to kill her brother Mikhail Bora, the children of former media tycoon Indrani Mukerjea from a previous liaison with a Kolkata-based man, Siddhartha Das.

The Mumbai police had arrested three persons, including Indrani, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai in August last year.

Later, in November, the CBI arrested former media tycoon Peter Mukerjea and he has now filed an application before Bombay High Court seeking bail.

In June, in a major twist in the case, driver Rai turned approver in the case in return for a pardon by the CBI Special Court, and he submitted a detailed statement on the facts pertaining to the crime.

At that time, Maria was personally supervising the investigations, and had interrogated the accused several times.

The Mukerjeas were in touch with Bharti, who was Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) at the relevant time, concerning the 'disappearance' of Sheena in early 2012.

Sheena Bora was allegedly strangulated on April 24, 2012, her body burnt and disposed off in a suitcase in the forests near Gagode village of adjoining Raigad district the following morning.

--IANS

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