Mumbai Court Permits Indrani Mukherjea To Travel To UK & Spain, Remove Ex-Husband Peter's Name From Her Will

A special court in Mumbai on Friday permitted Indrani Mukherjea, the prime accused in the high-profile Sheena Bora murder case, to travel to Spain and the United Kingdom for her personal work.

Special Judge SP Naik-Nimbalkar presiding over the special CBI court has ordered Mukherjea to make a security deposit of Rs 2 lakh with the Registrar of the Sessions Court.

In her plea, Mukherjea has said she has to visit Spain to make changes to her Will with respect to her properties there. She told the judge that she wants to remove her now estranged husband Peter Mukherjee's name from the Will's beneficiaries. She also has some bank work at her bank - Banco Sabadell in Spain. She told the court that she has to get updates about her bank account and pay the local bills and taxes for which she has to be physically present there.

As far as her travelling to UK is concerned, she has contended that she is a citizen of the UK so she wants to visit that country.

The CBI opposed her plea arguing that she might be a flight risk and would not return to India.

The special Judge, however, noted that there is no straight-jacket formula to decide such applications. The judge further noted that the apprehension of flight risk can be taken care of by the fact that India is a signatory to Extradition Treaties, with both Spain and the UK. The judge, therefore said, that there were no grounds or germane objections to deny her the permission.

The court maintained that right to travel abroad though is not an absolute one, however, it can be extended to undertrials by imposing certain conditions. It therefore permitted Mukherjea to visit Spain and UK by making a security deposit of Rs 2 lakh in the sessions court registry.

Among other conditions imposed on her is the one to furnish details of her immovable and movable properties to the CBI, to report to the Embassy of India (both in Spain and UK) at least once during her stay. The judge has specifically told Mukherjea that she cannot seek an extension of her stay abroad as the same would automatically lead to forfeiture of her security deposit and also issuance of a non-bailable warrant against her.

Appearance

Advocate Ranjeet Sangle appeared for Indrani.

Special Public Prosecutor CJ Nandode represented the CBI.