The probe into the Raigad cops’ negligence, in registering a case after Sheena Bora’s remains were found in Pen in 2012, has taken a new turn. R D Shinde, who was then Raigad superintendent of police, has submitted a six-page statement on the issue, which sources said blames then Raigad inspector Subhash Mirghe for the goofup.
A Khar police investigation this year revealed Bora, then 24, was allegedly murdered in April 2012 by her mother Indrani Mukerjea, with the help of her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and former driver Shyam Rai in a car in Mumbai and her body was burnt and thrown in a Pen ravine. A month later the remains were found, but police failed to register an accidental death report (ADR) or murder case. Mirghe has claimed that he did not register an FIR on Shinde’s instructions. But Shinde, now Mumbai’s additional commissioner of police (central region), has reportedly stated that Mirghe is trying to put the blame on him to save his own skin.
In his explanation, Shinde has stated he was transferred from Raigad on June 19, 2012, barely 26 days after the remains were found, but Mirghe was there for another two years. He asked why Mirghe did not follow it up with Shinde’s successor if he (Shinde) had instructed him not to register the case and why Mirghe also failed to pursue the case with JJ Hospital where he had sent a few bones for tests.
“Shinde has claimed that he learnt about the skeletal remains only recently, after news broke of Bora’s remains being buried in Raigad when he was the SP,” said a senior IPS officer. Mirghe, who is now posted in Pune, had reportedly stated that on May 23, 2012, after locals informed that a charred body was found in a secluded spot, he along with sub-inspector Sandeep Dhande had immediately informed then SP Shinde. Mirghe claimed that he made a station diary entry and sent the bones to JJ Hospital but at the same time, Shinde asked him not to register an FIR.
Shinde also clarified that according to standard operating procedure, Mirghe was incharge of the particular jurisdiction where the body was found and he should have immediately intimated the additional SP Ashwini Sanap, who is now posted at Solapur as deputy commissioner of police.
“Shinde has submitted his explanation but it will take some more time to analyze the findings. Once the inquiry is complete it will be submitted to the government,” director-general of police Sanjeev Dayal told TOI. Dayal ordered an inquiry into the role of the Raigad cops after Khar police exhumed the skeleton of Bora from Raigad last month. The present Raigad SP Suhez Haq last week recorded statements of three officers—Mirghe, Dhande and Pradeep Chavan and submitted his report to Dayal, who is now likely to club the findings of that report along with Shinde’s explanation, before arriving at a conclusion. Dayal will also call more police officers who were posted in Raigad to corroborate the statements of Shinde and Mirghe. “The fact remains that police have failed to register an ADR or murder case,” said a senior cop.
Sources said police often don’t register FIRs to show a lower crime graph in their area and to avoid being pulled up by their seniors for their failure to curb crimes.