On 26 September, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch filed a 990-page chargesheet in the Manjula Shetye custodial death case before a magistrate court, which contains the statements of 96 inmates of Byculla Jail, including Indrani Mukerjea, who is a key accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, reported the Hindustan Times.
Mukerjea has now come out and said that she was observing a maunvrat (a vow of silence) when Shetye was being beaten up by at least six members of the Byculla jail staff, reported HT. Mukerjea, whose statement was recorded on 1 September, is now a key witness in the Manjula Shetye case.
At 11:15 (on 23 June), constable Aarti Shingne was dragging Shetye towards the first floor, while constable Bindu Naikade was holding her from behind. I saw that the three were followed by jailer Manisha Pokharkar, and constables Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Waseema Shaikh. I saw that Shegaonkar had a stick and she hit Shetye with it on her legs.Indrani Mukerjea to the Hindustan Times
Mukerjea also said:
Since I was observing maunvrat, I was not speaking to anyone. I gestured to stop Shaikh, but she ignored and headed to the first floor.
Mukerjea also claims to have observed the assault of another jail inmate Fazleen Shaikh on 11 April. Fazleen Shaikh later told the police, as quoted by the Indian Express, “I was told by another inmate that Manjula was warned by being reminded of my assault. Manjula asked me about it and I told her what had happened.”
Manjula Shetye, 45, was serving the last few months of her life sentence, when on 23 June 2017 she was reportedly brutally sexually assaulted to death by the prison staff at Mumbai’s Byculla Jail.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)