Release of Indrani Mukerjea's passport subject to HC's decision on travel abroad order: CBI court

Mumbai: A special court here has withheld the release of the passport of former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in her daughter Sheena Bora's murder case, until the CBI's petition pertaining to her travel abroad order is decided by the Bombay High Court.

The court passed this order on July 30.

Special CBI court judge, S P Naik Nimbalkar, had on July 19, allowed Mukerjea's plea to travel abroad. However, the central probe agency filed a writ petition before the high court against the trial's court order.

The bench, hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation's petition, on July 29 extended an interim stay on the order permitting Indrani to travel abroad for two weeks.

In the meantime, the CBI, through an application, brought to the trial court's notice about filing and pendency of its petition before the high court.

The probe agency urged the court not to release her passport till the disposal of its writ petition.

Allowing the CBI's plea, the special court, in an order passed on July 30, ruled that the release of Indrani's passport would be subject to the decision of the high court.

Mukerjea is being tried for the alleged murder of her 24-year-old daughter Sheena Bora in 2012, leading to her arrest in August 2015 and incarceration. She was released from the jail in May 2022 after securing bail from the Supreme Court.

Bora was allegedly strangled to death in a moving car by the prime accused, her driver Shyamvar Rai, and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in Mumbai. The body was allegedly burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district, as per the prosecution.

The crime came to light only in 2015 when Rai spilled beans on the crime during interrogation after police arrested him in an Arms Act case.

Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, ex-husband of Indrani Mukerjea, was also arrested for allegedly being a part of the conspiracy linked to the murder.

All the accused are currently out on bail.