MUMBAI: A forensic science professor from BHU deposed on Friday that with “digital superimposition” he concluded that a skull recovered in the
Sheena Bora murder case is a “100%” match with her “smiling” photographs. “Facial landmarks” and teeth formed the basis of the match, said SK Tripathi before Special CBI Judge J C Jagdale. “The photos of
Sheena Bora and photographs of the skull belong to the same person,” the professor said.
Last August, another forensic expert, from BYL Nair Hospital, had deposed that the skull found by police in the 2012 murder case was that of a “young woman”.
Tripathi deposed as a witness for CBI, the prosecution agency in the ongoing trial of the accused trio of Indrani Mukerjea, and her former husbands Peter Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna. Indrani, her driver Shyamwar Rai (turned approver) and Khanna were arrested in August 2015, when the crime was registered by Khar police. CBI later took over and after filing a chargesheet, arrested Peter in November 2015.
On Friday, special CBI prosecutor Manoj Chaladan asked Tripathi how he was sure about the skull match. Tripathi, who came for the trial from Varanasi, said, “I considered various variables—shape of teeth, tooth direction, gap between teeth… and found them matching.” He said he applied “forensic odontology”—application of dental science to legal investigations for identification of human remains. He said various characteristics of teeth can never be alike for different individuals. The skull was sent by CBI to AIIMS, Delhi, for forensic analysis.
On Friday, the prosecutor also showed the witness a CD of the photos and Tripathi said he had chosen four photos of Sheena from among the many given by CBI. He demonstrated in court from the photos on the CD how the superimposition worked. “For instance, the point of nasal bone in the skull image corresponds with the facial landmark on her photograph,” he said, peering into the laptop in front of him as he stood in the wooden witness box, suddenly surrounded by Indrani’s and Peter’s lawyers Gunjan Mangla and Viral Babar.
To a question from Indrani’s defence advocate Gunjan Mangla in a cross examination which will be fully conducted next Tuesday by defence counsels Sudeep Pasbola and Shrikant Shivade, Tripathi said he made three copies of the CD on Thursday.
The judge also sought CBI’s say on Indrani's latest attempt at bail. Her plea touched on the skull and skeletal remains exhumed in Pen in August 2015 saying “forensics do not corroborate prosecution’s story” and that “prosecution has failed to join the dots between alleged discovery of a body in Pen in May 2012 and an alleged body exhumed in Pen in August 2015”.