New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of Indrani Mukerjea, who is accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, challenging a Bombay High Court ruling that denied her permission to travel abroad.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal directed the trial court to conduct the proceedings in the case within a year.

Opposing the permission, the counsel for the CBI said this is a sensitive matter and trial has come halfway and 96 witnesses have been examined.

The counsel appearing for Mukerjea, a former media executive, submitted that she has been given bail by the top court and there are 92 witnesses still to be examined in the matter.

She said the trial court has been vacant for the last four months and the proceedings may take a long time to conclude.

The travel restriction matter came up in the Supreme Court after a special court on July 19 allowed Ms Mukerjea’s plea to visit Spain and the United Kingdom for 10 days over the next three months.

The CBI approached the high court challenging the order passed by the special court. The high court quashed the special court’s order on September 27.

Ms Mukerjea moved the top court challenging this high court order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court on Monday extended for two weeks an ad-interim stay on a special court order that had allowed former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, to travel abroad.

The high court last week granted an interim stay on the lower court’s order after it was challenged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A single bench of Justice S C Chandak on Monday adjourned the plea for two weeks and extended the interim stay until then.

The special CBI court on July 19 allowed Mukerjea, who is out on bail, to travel once to Europe (Spain and United Kingdom) for ten days between intermittent period during the next three months.

CBI’s advocate Shriram Shirsat had argued that it would not be appropriate to allow Mukerjea to leave the country (for travel) considering she is the prime accused under trial.

The special court had directed Mukerjea to attend the office of the Indian Embassy or its allied diplomatic mission offices while travelling (in Spain and the UK) and obtain an attendance certificate and to furnish a security deposit of Rs 2 lakh.

Mukerjea had moved an application last month seeking the special court’s nod claiming she needs to travel to Europe frequently for work.

Mukerjea is being tried for alleged murder of her 24-year-old daughter Sheena Bora in 2012, leading to her arrest in August 2015 and incarceration. She was released from the jail in May 2022 after securing bail from the Supreme Court.

Bora, the daughter of Mukerjea born out of a previous relationship, was allegedly strangled to death in a moving car by the prime accused, her driver Shyamvar Rai, and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in Mumbai. The body was allegedly burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district, as per the prosecution.

The crime came to light only in 2015 when Rai spilled beans on the crime during interrogation after police arrested him in an Arms Act case.

Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, ex-husband of Indrani Mukerjea, was also arrested for allegedly being a part of the conspiracy linked to the murder.

All the accused are currently out on bail.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)