Indrani's lawyer to move trial court to finalize bail conditions on Friday

Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, will have to stay in prison till at least Friday despite the Supreme Court granting her bail, as the trial court will have to finalize her bail conditions.

The apex court on Wednesday granted her bail.

Her lawyer Sana Raees Shaikh said she will try and move the special CBI court here on Friday to get bail conditions finalized and secure Mukerjea's release.

Mukerjea is currently lodged in the Byculla women's prison in the city. She was arrested in August 2015 for alleged involvement in the murder of her daughter Sheena (24) three years earlier.

A three-judge bench of the SC granted bail to Indrani earlier in the day, saying she had already spent six and a half years in jail and the trial was not likely to be completed anytime soon.

It directed the special CBI court, where the trial is underway, to finalise Mukerjea's bail conditions.

The SC also suggested that bail conditions be similar to those imposed on her former husband and co-accused Peter Mukerjea, who walked out of prison on bail in March 2020.

Peter Mukerjea, a former media baron, had been granted bail by the Bombay High Court against a bond of Rs 2 lakh and asked not to interfere with the probe or tamper with evidence.

Once Indrani Mukerjea's lawyer approaches the CBI court with the Supreme Court's bail order, the CBI court will decide bail conditions (such as cooperating with the probe) and ask for personal bond and one or more sureties. After this procedure is complete, the lawyer can inform the prison authorities and secure her release.

Indrani Mukerjea's bail pleas, on merit as well as on health grounds, had been rejected several times by the trial court in the past.

The CBI had consistently opposed her bail pleas, saying she was the prime accused in the murder of her own daughter and had made all efforts to keep the crime hidden, so she didn't deserve any leniency.

In February 2020, Justice N W Sambre of the High Court granted bail to Peter, but denied relief to Indrani Mukerjea saying that witnesses, including accused-turned-approver Shyamvar Rai, specifically named her as having committed the crime.