Siddhartha Das, biological father of Sheena Bora, told a special court in Mumbai on Friday 14 December that he spoke to her for the last time on her birthday in February 2012, two months before she was allegedly murdered.
Sheena (24) was a child of Das and Indrani Mukerjea, who is the prime accused in the murder case.
Das, a prosecution witness, told special court judge JC Jagdale,
“Last I called Sheena was on 11 February, 2012 as it was her birthday. Before that, she had called me in 2011 and sought my blessing for her engagement with Rahul. After her birthday in 2012, I never received any call from Sheena.”
He also told the court that he met Indrani in 1986 during his college days. Both Sheena and her brother Mikhail were born out of their relationship.
Sheena was born in 1987 and Mikhail a year later, Das said.
During this period, he along with the two children was staying in Indrani's parents’ house in Guwahati, he said.
Indrani suddenly left him and their children in 1989 and he never met her or talked with her again, Das told the court.
He denied the defence lawyer's claim that Indrani left home due to physical abuse.
To another question, Das said, “It was actually through media that I came to know that Sheena was murdered and Indrani has been arrested”.
Police had called him to Mumbai for a DNA test, but neither the police nor the CBI (which took over the case later) conducted the test, he said.
Defence lawyers pointed out that between April 2012 to May 2013, over 700 messages were exchanged between Rahul (son of former media baron and co-accused Peter Mukerjea, from his earlier marriage) and Das.
In one of the messages, he advised Rahul to file a missing person complaint about Sheena.
“Maybe I advised Rahul to file a missing complaint since she went missing from Mumbai. But I never filed any missing complaint.”Siddartha Das
THE CASE
Sheena Bora was allegedly killed by her mother Indrani with the help of others inside a car in April 2012. The body was disposed of in the neighbouring Raigad district.
The incident came to light in August 2015 after Mukerjea's then-driver Shyamvar Rai, who had been arrested by police for possessing a firearm illegally, spilled the beans.
The Mumbai Police arrested Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai for allegedly killing Sheena. Later, Peter, Indrani's current husband, was also arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy. Rai was made an approver in the case.
The CBI claimed that a financial dispute was the reason for the murder. It also claimed that Indrani was opposed to Sheena's relationship with Rahul.
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