Peter Mukerjea told to pay Rs 1,200 to witness for lawyer no-show

MUMBAI: The special CBI court on Tuesday imposed Rs 1,200 cost after Peter Mukerjea’s defence sought an adjournment due to the unavailability of his lawyer to cross-examine the fourth prosecution witness in the Sheena Bora murder case.
Ordering the amount to be paid to witness Pradeep Waghmare, the former housekeeper at Peter and his wife Indrani’s flat in Worli, the court said, “The defence advocate is absent and the witness is a daily wage earner.Obviously, he has to be compensated by cost. Hence, an adjournment is granted, subject to a cost of Rs 1,200.” A resident of Badlapur, Waghmare said that he and his wife had to leave their child home to reach court.
Meanwhile, Indrani’s defence advocate Sudeep Pasbola completed Waghmare’s cross-examination; he identified the signature forged by her former assistant Kajal Sharma on Sheena’s resignation letter.
Waghmare said he was aware that forging a signature was an offence and had attempted to stop Sharma before she signed the letter. “ I saw her practise the signature on paper.” He said she then repeated the signature on the resignation letter and asked him to post it. “Kajal told me she was ‘making the signature’ of Sheena on Indrani Mukerjea’s instructions.” The court has directed the CBI to produce accused turned approver Shyamvar Rai in connection with his bail plea.