Indrani Mukherjee is currently on bail in the Sheena Bora murder case.
Mumbai:
The release of the Netflix documentary on former media boss Indrani Mukherjee, accused of murdering her 25-year-old daughter, has been put on hold for the time being. The Bombay High Court has asked Netflix to organize a screening of “The Indrani Mukherjee Story: Buried Truth” for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials probing the Sheena Bora murder case. The documentary was to be released tomorrow.
The court has now asked Netflix to organize a special screening which will be attended by CBI officers and lawyers. The case will be heard next Thursday, meaning the documentary is not releasing this month.
Earlier, the CBI had requested the court to stop the screening of the documentary till the completion of the trial in the murder case. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Manjusha Deshpande today asked the makers of the documentary if they could organize the screening for the CBI.
“Why CBI should not be allowed to watch the series. What is the difficulty in sharing the documentary?”. The court asked. It said that like an accused, the prosecution and the victim also have rights in a case.
Senior advocate Ravi Kadam, appearing for Netflix, initially opposed the screening and said it would amount to pre-censorship. He also said that CBI should have approached the court earlier.
But the court said that the trial is still ongoing. The court said, “It (release) can be postponed for a week… the sky is not going to fall.”
Mr Kadam said that if the court wants, it can also watch the series. The bench quipped that it did not have time. Netflix’s attorney then made a statement that the documentary would not be released before the next hearing. He also told the court that five witnesses in the case have been interviewed for the series. These include Indrani’s son Mikhail and daughter Vidhi Mukherjee from her second husband Peter Mukherjee.
Earlier, a special court had rejected the CBI’s request to stop the release of the documentary.
Sheena Bora was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Indrani, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012. Sheena was Indrani’s daughter from a previous relationship.
The murder came to light in 2015 when driver Shyamvar Rai spoke about it after his arrest in another case. Indrani was arrested in 2015 and granted bail in 2022. Other accused including Shyamvar Rai, Sanjeev Khanna and Peter Mukherjee are also out on bail.
