Sheena Bora murder case: Deposition of witnesses may begin from Feb 23

Mumbai: The deposition of prosecution witnesses in the Sheena Bora murder case is likely to start from February 23 with the trial court today directing CBI to hand over the list of its witnesses to defence lawyers.

"Court has directed us to give the list of witnesses to defence on February 17, and we may bring the first witness on February 23," a CBI official said.

Earlier in the day, during the hearing, the CBI lawyer initially refused to give the list, saying it will create unnecessary media attention for witnesses.

Special CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami also told the court that security of the witnesses will be compromised if the entire list was given, so CBI would disclose the names of only one or two witnesses to the defence at a time.

The defence told the court they needed the list to prepare for cross-examination.

The prosecutor then said the defence must not make the list public.

Judge H S Mahajan conducted further hearing about the list of witnesses inside his chamber.

Indrani Mukerjea, her husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna are accused of conspiracy and murder of Sheena Bora, Indrani's daughter from earlier relationship.

According to the prosecution, Sheena was murdered on April 24, 2012, but the crime came to light after the arrest of Indrani's driver in another case in August 2015.