Sheena case: CBI moves court to quiz Indrani, 2 others in jail

The agency has received forensic laboratory report on the Skype communication and messages amongst the trio

CBI today moved the sessions court here seeking permission to question prime accused Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyamvar Rai in jail in the Sheena Bora murder case even as judicial custody of the trio was extended till December 17.

"We seek permission to interrogate the accused in jail for three weeks," CBI special prosecutor Kavita Patil told the court.

However, Special Judge H S Mahajan is likely to hear the probe agency's plea on Monday.

On November 20, a Metropolitan Magistrate court had transferred the trial in the case to a sessions court here and had directed that the three accused be produced there on December 3.

According to CBI sources, they have received the forensic laboratory report on the Skype communication and messages amongst the trio.

"We need to confront the accused with these FSL reports," they said.

Meanwhile, Indrani, through her lawyer, moved an application seeking statements of witnesses recorded before the court.

The 43-year-old has also sought Rai's confessional statement in the case. The court will hear this application too on Monday.

Indrani, Khanna and Rai were chargesheeted after their arrest in the case in August this year. Indrani's husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea is in judicial custody till December 14.

He was arrested on November 19 and was subsequently subjected to sustained grilling and polygraph test during his 11-day CBI custody.

Sheena (24), Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, was allegedly strangled in a car and then her body burnt and dumped in a forest in Raigad, about 84 kms from Mumbai.

While Indrani is lodged in the Byculla womens' prison, Peter is kept at the high-security Arthur Road Jail here, where other two accused in the case--Khanna and Rai -- are also lodged.