A special court on Monday accepted the application of Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, stating that one Asha Korke had met Bora in Kashmir and it directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a reply over the matter.

The application was moved in the Court by Mukerjea’s lawyer Sana R Khan. Earlier on December 16, the prime accused Indrani Mukherjea had also written to the CBI and said that she will move the CBI court to record a statement of a jail inmate who claimed to have met Sheena in Kashmir.

Indrani Mukherjea, the mother of Sheena Bora, in her letter to the investigating agency stated that an inmate in Byculla prison at present had told her that she had spotted Sheena in Kashmir some time ago. In her letter, Indrani has requested the CBI to look into the possibility of Sheena being alive.

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

Indrani Mukherjea, who is currently lodged in Byculla jail of Mumbai had also sent a letter from the jail to CBI stating that Sheena Bora is alive. A source close to Indrani confirmed that the letter was written based on input given by another jail inmate.

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 having murdered Sheena Bora in April 2012 and said that he dumped her body in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. He also told Mumbai Police that Sheena’s mother, Indrani Mukerjea, and Sanjeev Khanna (ex-husband of Indrani) were also involved in this murder.

According to CBI’s case before the court, Indrani Mukerjea 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.

According to the CBI, Indrani killed Sheena Bora as Sheena was threatening to expose her in public over the fact that she was not her sister, but her daughter, CBI said. Driver Shyamvar Rai turned approver in this case.

Peter Mukerjea was given bail by a special CBI court in March 2020. During the trial of the case, Indrani and Peter decided to end their relationship too. They were given divorce by a family court in Mumbai in October 2019.