Indrani completes cross-examination of Rahul Mukerjea in Sheena Bora case

Rahul, who was Sheena's fiance and is the son of Indrani's former husband and Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, who is also a co-accused in the case, had begun his deposition as a witness in June.

Indrani Mukerjea

IN THE trial of the alleged Sheena Bora murder case, former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, who is an accused in the case, on Thursday completed the cross-examination of prime witness Rahul Mukerjea — after asking him at least 500 questions since last month — claiming that he was aware of Sheena’s whereabouts and that she was alive. Indrani also claimed she was falsely implicated by Rahul in the case due to “personal vengeance”.

Rahul, who was Sheena’s fiance and is the son of Indrani’s former husband and Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, who is also a co-accused in the case, had begun his deposition as a witness in June. Lawyer Ranjeet Sangle began cross-examining Rahul on behalf of Indrani last month. On Thursday, Sangle claimed that Rahul was in regular touch with Sheena till the end of September 2012 and was aware about her whereabouts till December 2012. The CBI claims that Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Peter planned a conspiracy to murder Sheena and that she was killed on April 24, 2012.

During the cross-examination of Rahul in the past few weeks, Indrani claimed that Sheena could not have been dead on that date and that Rahul was in touch with her subsequent to the date. Rahul denied he was in touch with Sheena after April 2012 throughout his deposition and claimed he had last seen her when he dropped her at Bandra on April 24, 2012 to meet Indrani.

“It is true to say that as per my knowledge I do not know whether Sheena is alive or dead as on today. It is not true to say that I am aware about her whereabouts and that she is alive. It is not true to say that I was in regular touch with her till end of September 2012 and was aware about her whereabouts till December 2012,” Rahul said in response to the questions put to him by Sangle.

He also denied that he had only seen “lookalikes” of Indrani and Khanna on the evening when he dropped Sheena and not the two. Rahul also denied Indrani’s claim that he had forged a marriage certificate with Sheena to procure a fake passport for her.

On Thursday, Niranjan Mundargi also completed Rahul’s cross-examination of Khanna. He claimed that Rahul had falsely deposed against Khanna. He claimed that Khanna was not present during the test identification parade and had therefore not identified him.

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