Sheena Bora was allegedly strangled in a car by her mother, Indrani Mukerjea (File)
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the CBI seeking its response on a bail plea by Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the murder of her daughter, Sheena Bora.
Ms Mukerjea, who is currently in judicial custody of a special CBI court, filed her bail plea last week but the hearing was postponed to Monday after the Supreme Court failed to receive a copy.
Arguing for bail, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Indrani Mukerjea, told the Supreme Court: "She has been in jail for six-and-a-half years... this trial will not even in the next 10 years."
"185 witnesses have yet to be examined (and) no witnesses have been examined in the past 18 months," he told a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao.
Mr Rohatgi pointed out his client's ex-husband, former media baron Peter Mukerjea, had been released on bail in March last year, and that Ms Mukerjea is "suffering from a cerebral disease".
The next hearing in this case has been scheduled for two weeks from now.
In December there was a sensational twist to this long-running and morbid case - Ms Mukerjea wrote to the CBI and claimed her daughter was still alive and living in Kashmir.
Ms Mukerjea based her claim on the statement of another prisoner. The CBI, however, has made it clear this particular angle will not be investigated unless there is an intervention from the courts.
Indrani Mukerjea has been in Mumbai's Byculla prison since 2015. She was arrested for the murder of Sheena Bora, 25, a daughter from her first marriage and whom she passed off as her sister.
Three months later Peter Mukerjea was arrested on charges of abetment. He was released last year.
Sheena Bora was allegedly strangled by Indrani Mukerjea, her driver and her second husband, Sanjeev Khanna, in 2012. Investigators say the body was kept overnight at their Mumbai home.
The body was moved the next day to a forest outside Mumbai and set on fire