Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Peter Mukerjea, one of the main accused in the high profile Sheena Bora murder case observing that prima facie there was no evidence of his involvement in the crime. However, despite the bail order, Mukerjea will not be able to walk out of jail as the High Court stayed its order for a period of six weeks so that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could file an appeal against the order.

Former media baron Mukerjea was arrested on November 19, 2015 in the Sheena Bora killing case, in which his former wife Indrani Mukerjea is the main accused. According to reports, Justice Nitin Sambre granted him bail on a surety of Rs two lakh.

The court in its order noted there was no prima facie evidence to infer that Peter Mukerjea was involved in the commission of the crime. "When the incident took place, the applicant (Peter Mukerjea) was not in India. The trial in the case is already underway. The applicant is in jail since more than four years and has recently undergone a bypass surgery," Justice Sambre said.

The court directed Peter Mukerjea not to contact his daughter Vidhi, son Rahul Mukerjea and other witnesses in the case.

As per CBI, Peter Mukerjea along with Indrani Mukerjea and her previous husband Sanjeev Khanna entered into a criminal conspiracy to kill Sheena Bora. Sheena Bora, 24, who was allegedly killed on April 24, 2012, was Indrani Mukerjea's daughter from an earlier relationship.

The killing came to light in 2015 when Indrani Mukerjea's driver Shyamwar Rai, who had helped them dispose of the body, was arrested in another case. Rai later turned an approver in the Sheena Bora killing case.

Currently, Indrani Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna are also lodged in jail since their arrest in the case in April 2015.

Earlier this year, Indrani Mukerjea had informed the special court in Mumbai that the prosecution's case against her was false and baseless. Indrani made the claim while arguing for her bail plea before special CBI judge J C Jagdale. This was her fifth attempt to seek bail.

Indrani told court the prosecution's case was false and baseless and she had around 120 documents to prove that. After failing to secure bail four times on medical grounds, Indrani filed another plea in December 2019 in the court of judge Jagdale, seeking bail on the 'merits' of her case.