SC turns down Indrani Mukerjea’s fresh plea to travel abroad in Sheena Bora murder case

The Supreme Court on Friday, 24 April, refused to entertain a fresh plea filed by Indrani Mukerjea seeking to travel abroad.

Mukerjea is accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora in Mumbai in April 2012, alongwith her then-driver Shyamvar Rai and former husband Sanjeev Khanna. Sheena’s mortal remains were then burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district.

Mukerjea was arrested in August 2015 after the murder came to light. The Supreme Court granted her bail in May 2022 after she spent more than six years in custody.

A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh on Friday told senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Mukerjea, that the apex court has already asked her to seek relief from the trial court, where proceedings against her are pending.

Jethmalani said that last year, the top court had not decided on her plea to travel abroad on merit, but there is some urgency now.

The bench said that last year’s order was intended only to enable the petitioner to file an application before the trial court, and not before the apex court.

On February 12, last year, the top court had dismissed a plea by Mukerjea, a former media executive, to travel abroad, observing that there was no guarantee that she would come back.

It directed the trial court to conduct the proceedings within a year and also upheld a Bombay High Court order refusing her plea.

Noting that the trial against her was at an advanced stage, the apex court had directed the lower court to expedite the hearing and conclude it within a year.

The matter came before the Supreme Court last year after a special court on 19 July 2024, allowed Mukerjea's plea to visit Spain and the United Kingdom for 10 days.

Soon after, the Bombay High Court, however, intervened and set aside the order on 27 September, after the CBI filed an appeal.

Mukerjea had then moved the apex court challenging the high court order.

This year, she has filed a fresh plea seeking permission to travel abroad.