Cops trace vendor from whom Shyam Rai, Indrani bought suitcases

Mumbai, Sept 2: Connecting the dots in the Sheena Bora murder case, police on Tuesday traced a street vendor in Central Mumbai from whom the prime accused Indrani Mukherjea and her driver Shyam Rai had allegedly purchased two suitcases, one of which was apparently used for disposing of the victim's body in Raigad district in 2012.

The investigators took Rai to the Dadar area in the evening to crosscheck whether Indrani and him had indeed purchased the suitcases from the vendor in question, a police officer said. He said the vendor identified Rai.

The officer added that the vendor will now be made a witness in the case. According to police, Rai and Indrani had gone to Dadar and purchased the suitcases for Rs 5,000.

With the vendor's statement, police could very well say that Sheena's murder was premeditated, the officer added. Indrani, her previous husband Sanjeev Khanna, and Rai are in police custody in connection with the 2012 murder.

Police had on Sunday seized a suitcase from the residential premises of Indrani and her husband Peter Mukherjea in the Worli area here that was purportedly meant for packing the body of Sheena's brother Mikhail Bora, whom Indrani had allegedly planned to kill.

Mikhail had claimed that Indrani had planned to kill him too on April 23, 2012

Mikhail has claimed that Indrani had planned to kill him too on April 23, 2012 -- when she had given him a spiked drink -- and had bought a suitcase to dispose of his body.

According to police, after Sheena was murdered on April 24, 2012, the corpse was first kept in a suitcase and driven to the garage of former Star TV CEO Peter Mukherjea's Worli home.

On April 25, Indrani, Khanna and Rai took the corpse out of the suitcase and placed it inside the car. The three then set off for a three-hour journey with the corpse propped up on the seat of the moving vehicle.

The body was finally taken out at Ghogade Khurd in Pen taluka of Raigad district and stuffed back in the suitcase kept in the boot of the car.

PTI