'Saw Indrani and others at crime spot'

MUMBAI: A witness in the Sheena Bora murder case told the special trial court on Wednesday that while riding his bike to Pen in 2012, he had seen accused Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and accused-turned-approver Shyamvar Rai outside their vehicle, at the spot where the victim's body was burnt.
The witness described them vividly and also identified Indrani and Sanjeev who were present in court.
Rai is lodged at Thane prison and is not brought to court for proceedings as he has turned approver and deposed as a prosecution witness.
Responding to questions posed by Indrani's defence advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the witness, Sandeep Patil, said he had slowed down on seeing the trio. "I was riding at 50-60 kmph, but slowed down. It took half a minute to cross the vehicle," he said. He said he could not identify the make or number of the vehicle as he had not paid any attention to it.
Describing the trio, the witness said, "One of them was wearing spectacles, had a fair complexion and was tall; the person standing near the driver's side of the vehicle was wheatish in complexion, while a fair complexioned woman was standing on the rear side."
Raigad resident Patil is among the 12 witnesses to depose so far. During his examination by special public prosecutor Kavita Patil, the witness said he had voluntarily gone to give information to Khar police in September 2015, after watching news about Sheena's murder and her body being burnt at a place called Gagode Khind.
He said he realised he had seen them near the spot three years earlier. "I had seen them between 6.15 am and 6.30 am. All of them were standing silently," he recalled.
The first witness to depose on Wednesday, Ajit Gogade, a shop owner on the Mumbai-Pune road said, in 2012, he had sold a can to a person who had alighted from a car. The witness identified Indrani as the woman seated in the back seat of the same car. During cross examination by Pasbola, the witness accepted it was not possible for him to recollect details. Yet, he denied he was deposing falsely. "It is not correct to say I have identified the accused because she was shown to me by the investigating officer today or because she was on a TV channel."
Earlier in the hearing, Indrani moved an application complaining that during a previous hearing, the officer of the investigating agency had pointed her out to a witness.