Sheena Bora murder case: Indrani Mukerjea walks out of Byculla Jail

Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, walked out of Byculla Jail in Mumbai on Friday, a day after she was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Indrani, facing trials for the alleged killing of her daughter Sheena Bora, was lodged at the Byculla women's prison in Mumbai, following her arrest in August 2015, and had spent over six years there.

Speaking to the reporters while leaving the jail, she said, "I am very happy."

"I am just going home...Empathy and forgiveness...I have forgiven all the people who have hurt me. I have learned a lot in the jail," she told ANI.

Before the release, Advocate Sana Raees Shaikh, Indrani's lawyer said that all formalities have been complied with.

"She will attend every date of the trial as we want the case to proceed expeditiously," Shaikh said.

Supreme Court's bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and AS Bopanna granted bail to Mukerjea while noting that she has been in jail for six-and-half years.

The bench while releasing her said, "We are granting bail to Indrani Mukerjea. Six-and-a-half years is too long a time. We are not making comments on the merits of the case. Even if the 50 per cent witnesses are given up by the prosecution, the trial would not be over soon."

Following this, the Special CBI court granted bail to Indrani on Rs 2 lakh surety.

The court stated that keeping in view that the accused (Indrani Mukherjea) is ready to furnish cash bail provisionally, she will be released after furnishing the cash bail of Rs 2 lakhs. "Time to furnish surety is granted for two weeks from today."

Indrani had challenged the Bombay High Court order of 16 November 2021 that denied her bail. Earlier, the bench had asked the CBI to file an affidavit on Indrani's bail plea.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, had opposed the plea of Indrani Mukerjea, by saying that she has committed a "heinous act of planning and killing her own daughter" and "such a gruesome act does not deserve leniency".

Indrani has always maintained that Sheena was not murdered, and had gone abroad for her education in 2012, although Indrani could never prove her claims.

The CBI has been investigating the Sheena Bora case since 2015, after taking over the case from Mumbai Police. According to the case registered by Mumbai Police, Sheena Bora was kidnapped and murdered by strangulation in April 2012.

This case first came to light after the arrest of Indrani's driver, Shyamvar Rai in another case in August 2015.

During the investigation, he confessed to the killing of Sheena Bora in April 2012 and said that he dumped her body in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. He had also told Mumbai Police that Sheena's mother, Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna (ex-husband of Indrani) were also involved in this murder.

According to CBI's case before the court, Indrani killed Sheena Bora because she was furious over the relationship between Sheena Bora, whom she introduced as her sister to everyone, and Rahul Mukerjea, son of Peter Mukerjea (third husband of Indrani Mukerjea) from his first marriage.

As per CBI, she (Indrani) had killed Sheena Bora as the latter was threatening to expose her in public over the fact that she was not her sister, but her daughter. Driver Shyamvar Rai turned approver in this case.