Mumbai: In the Sheena Bora murder trial, the 100th witness, a retired senior police inspector from Khar police station, on Monday said he did not know why accused-turned-approver Shyamvar Rai was produced before the court three days after he was purportedly picked up on Aug 19, 2015. Rai, who was picked in an Arms Act case, subsequently divulging murder details, was officially shown as arrested on Aug 21.
The witness admitted to not knowing the exact location where Rai was picked up on Aug 19, 2015, or where he was kept until Aug 21, 2015. He agreed an Arms Act arrest mandates immediate FIR and couldn’t explain why it was delayed until Aug 21. The witness refuted the defence’s claim that it was the modus operandi to falsely implicate the accused in a comparatively minor offence to uncover the larger murder case. He denied acting on behalf of CBI or his former superiors.
“It is not correct to say that in order to get a larger or greater offence disclosed, it is a modus operandi to get a small or weaker accused in some matter like in the present case in the Arms Act case and then get the matter discovered from such accused. I have not stated like this before anybody,” the witness, Dattatray Bhargude (62), said in response to questions posed by accused Indrani Mukerjea’s lawyer Ranjeet Sangle.
