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Vaihayasi Pande Daniel

Editorial Director Vaihayasi Pande Daniel has reported on news, business, travel and lifestyle for 30 years.
You can find her features here.
You can e-mail the author at haysidaniel@rediffmail.com

All stories by VAIHAYASI PANDE DANIEL

Sheena Bora case: Why did her lawyers give Indrani a drubbing?

Sheena Bora case: Why did her lawyers give Indrani a drubbing?

Rediff.com28 Feb 2020

Indrani dressed in a short purple kurta and leggings, with a bandhini green-purple chunni, sindhoor glowing in her mang, was receiving a drubbing from her lawyers for the facts she had revealed before the court on Tuesday while arguing the rejoinder to her bail application. She was insisting: "But he asked me for a motive!"

Was Sheena Bora alive months after her death?

Was Sheena Bora alive months after her death?

Rediff.com26 Feb 2020

'There is a communication between Rahul Mukerjea and Sheena Bora.' 'First on the 26th. And then on the 27th and then on the 28th.' 'See the messages wherein Rahul Mukerjea tells Sheena Bora "Baba I am in the car park. Come".' 'And Sheena Bora replies to Rahul Mukerjea: "Five min bas".' 'This explains why none of the bodies matched Sheena Bora...'

Sheena Bora Case: Why was Indrani's voice recorded?

Sheena Bora Case: Why was Indrani's voice recorded?

Rediff.com22 Feb 2020

At the prison, both Ranjan and Manglik's cell phones were pressed into service by the CBI. Why the CBI didn't bring its own equipment seems a mystery... Ranjan's cell handset was given to Indrani and Manglik dialed it. Indrani then spoke and her speech, that emanated from the phone, via speaker mode, was recorded.

Sheena Bora Case: How did Indrani access Sheena's email account?

Sheena Bora Case: How did Indrani access Sheena's email account?

Rediff.com14 Feb 2020

The prosecution's pursuit of this tiny detail was because they believed the charge from Google, on Indrani's account, was to restore Sheena's Gmail account, via the Google account recovery toolkit, since Indrani did not have the password.

Sheena Bora Case: Indrani rips into case against her!

Sheena Bora Case: Indrani rips into case against her!

Rediff.com8 Feb 2020

'When the forensics have collapsed, approver is clearly proved to be a liar from the beginning to the end... Does the prosecution genuinely believe that we ought to remain in judicial custody despite showing that their own story is not being corroborated by evidence, for another 192 witnesses?'

The American who caught Gandhiji's killer

The American who caught Gandhiji's killer

Rediff.com30 Jan 2020

In the shock after Nathuram Godse murdered Mahatma Gandhi that January evening 72 years ago today, a young American diplomat rushed to capture the assassin. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel traces the memorable life of Herbert Reiner, who History has sadly relegated to a footnote.

Sheena Bora Case: Indrani argues her case!

Sheena Bora Case: Indrani argues her case!

Rediff.com29 Jan 2020

Dressed in pink, her hands flying about in eloquent gestures, excitement on her face, Indrani made quite a picture. There was pin-drop silence as she made strong points about why nothing in the hearings had uncovered anything against her. She spoke about there being "Not a shred of evidence... No scientific evidence because it didn't happen!"

Sheena Bora Case: Lawyer, witness wrestle over facts

Sheena Bora Case: Lawyer, witness wrestle over facts

Rediff.com23 Jan 2020

Dr Gupta handled Shivade's blows with quite some equanimity... So it was often only Shivade down in the mud pit, egging and enticing the doctor to join the fight, while Dr Gupta cautiously kept to the sidelines, barely stepping a toe into the mud.

Sheena Bora case: Doctor in trouble?

Sheena Bora case: Doctor in trouble?

Rediff.com17 Jan 2020

Judge Jagdale halted Dr Gupta's testimony several times because he felt it had neither order nor direction. Tightly controlling his irritation, his lips compressed, the judge explained as patiently as he could: "What he has done in this case should come (out in his testimony) in a lucid manner. You eat chapati and then rice. You cannot eat half a chapati and then have rice and then eat half a chapati..." "He is not a witness of facts. He is an expert witness. Either he is not prepared. Or you are not prepared."

Sheena Bora Case: So was it Sheena's skull?

Sheena Bora Case: So was it Sheena's skull?

Rediff.com10 Jan 2020

The software had, perhaps unknown to Dr Tripathi, tracked the changes he had made. The 'morph track' feature of the software provided a trail of what had been done and also indicated that the doctor had, it seemed, opted to morph Sheena's face with the provided skull, much in the same manner that Fantamorph can turn a woman into a cheetah.

Meet Sachin Tendulkar's English mother-in-law

Meet Sachin Tendulkar's English mother-in-law

Rediff.com8 Jan 2020

Annabel Mehta, Sachin Tendulkar's mother-in-law, has dedicated her life to working with the Beautiful People of the other half of Mumbai without whom the city would neither exist nor thrive. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel met the amazing lady who was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to underprivileged communities.

Sheena Bora Case: And then Sheena disappeared...

Sheena Bora Case: And then Sheena disappeared...

Rediff.com4 Jan 2020

In just 18 frames, the photograph of the dainty Sheena, with her winsome smile and starry eyes, dissolved, flesh falling off her facial bones, into what the CBI alleged was her corresponding yellowed, morose-looking skull with hollow, haunting eye sockets.

Sheena Bora Trial: A year of tortuous twists and turns

Sheena Bora Trial: A year of tortuous twists and turns

Rediff.com18 Dec 2019

When the hearings resume January 3, you wonder how many things will change and how many things will remain forever the same, as the Sheena Bora trial moves ahead.

Sheena Bora Trial: Why was Indrani overjoyed?

Sheena Bora Trial: Why was Indrani overjoyed?

Rediff.com14 Dec 2019

Indrani was cheering Pasbola on from the back, with little, happy whoops, that she muffled with her chunni. Indrani was in her element on Friday. The defence's cross-examination was clearly going her way and Indrani was delighted.

Sheena Bora Trial: Indrani and the DNA Puzzle

Sheena Bora Trial: Indrani and the DNA Puzzle

Rediff.com13 Dec 2019

What Indrani doesn't know is that even if she is handed down a sentence of not guilty by the judge at the end of the long and meandering Sheena Bora murder trial, for India's legion of armchair judges, she will always be guilty. She won't be able to change that. Ever.

'Tiger populations have boomed'

'Tiger populations have boomed'

Rediff.com3 Dec 2019

'Animal populations are increasing. Human populations are increasing. So there is no way the man-animal conflict going to go away.'

'You are in a crisis. You need to do things quickly'

'You are in a crisis. You need to do things quickly'

Rediff.com25 Nov 2019

'Unless we change and we see a change in the direction we are taking, times can only get worse.'

'Big guys r**e the economy'

'Big guys r**e the economy'

Rediff.com25 Nov 2019

'When you forgive a farmer's loans there is this ideological economists lobby which says: 'That's socialism. And that's bad'.' 'But to forgive the loans of big people, so that they will be interested to invest further is capitalism and is good.'

Sheena Bora Case: Peter celebrates another birthday in jail

Sheena Bora Case: Peter celebrates another birthday in jail

Rediff.com20 Nov 2019

It will be his fifth birthday in jail as an undertrial. He was arrested two days before his birthday in 2015. Tuesday also marked Peter's fourth year in jail.

Ross island: Where history rests

Ross island: Where history rests

Rediff.com31 Oct 2019

Vaihayasi Pande Daniel discovers Ross Island where the clock can never be turned back.

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