Sheena Bora murder: Accused driver pardoned, turns approver

Mumbai, June 20  A special CBI court here on Monday pardoned driver Shyamvar Rai - one of the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case - and permitted him to become an approver.

Special Judge H.S. Mahajan, while granting the pardon, instructed Rai to speak the truth about the entire episode.

"You will have to tell the truth, what you know, what happened, what you and others did. Is it okay?" Special Judge Mahajan asked, to which Rai replied in the affirmative.

With this development, Rai - the former driver of one of the prime accused and ex-media baroness Indrani Mukerjea - who was arrested in August 2015 is no longer an accused and has become a prosecution witness.

In early May, Rai had given a two-page letter to the court seeking pardon and permission to become an approver by revealing the entire truth in the sensational murder case.

Daughter of Indrani from an earlier liaison, Sheena Bora was allegedly strangulated on April 24, 2012, and her body was burnt and disposed off in the forests near Gagode village of adjoining Raigad district early the next morning.

Besides Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, her present husband and former media tycoon Peter Mukerjea and Rai were arrested last year.

The case came to light after Rai was nabbed for possessing a weapon illegally last year by the Khar police. It was later taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation.