Sheena Bora case: 'Indrani spoke to DCP too, so why jail only Peter?'

Even DCP Deven Bharti was in contact with Indrani Mukerjea, so why is only her husband Peter Mukerjea being viewed suspiciously in the Sheena Bora murder case, questioned Peter's lawyer in court yesterday.

The lawyer also argued that records of calls between Peter and Indrani are being used as circumstantial evidence to pin him as a conspirator in the case, but there is no evidence to suggest that they spoke of the murder

"We are not saying that DCP Bharti is a co-conspirator, but why were objections raised only against the calls between Peter and Indrani?" Peter's lawyer Aabad Ponda argued before the special CBI court, which is hearing Peter's bail application.

Ponda pointed out that in April 2012 - the month that Sheena Bora was murdered - prime accused Indrani had spoken to not just Peter, but also DCP Bharti and her own secretary Kajal Sharma, as well as Dr Yusuf Matcheswala, the doctor from whom she took a prescription of sedatives which she allegedly used to drug Sheena on the night of the murder.

Ponda said Indrani spoke to the DCP twice on April 6, 2012 - a few weeks before the April 24 murder - and three messages were also exchanged. After the murder, on April 28, there were eight more calls between the two. Ponda then gave the details of the calls between Indrani and Matcheswala. They spoke four times on April 7, and then three times the next day. They also exchanged three text messages that day. The lawyer also pointed out to the court that Indrani spoke several times to her secretary on the day before and on the day of the murder (see box).

Ponda told the court that the call data records between Peter and Indrani on the intervening night of April 24 and 25 (time range for Sheena's murder) was being used as the main circumstantial evidence against his client, but the CBI has no conversation of those calls to show that they discussed the murder.