Sheena murder probe gathers pace

Mumbai, August 28

Peter Mukherjea, former Star CEO and husband of Indrani Mukherjea, was questioned in the Sheena Bora murder case on Friday as the puzzle gets murkier by the day. Indrani's son Mikhail; former husband Sanjeev Khanna, who is suspected to have been involved in the murder; and Peter’s brother Gautam were among those questioned.

Peter, a media honcho, has made several contradictory claims in the case that gets murkier by the day. Previously, he claimed he was unaware that Sheena was his wife’s daughter, saying he knew her as Indrani’s sister.  He also claimed his wife had told him Sheena was in the USA.

But when his son Rahul Mukerjea was questioned for two days over his relationship with Sheena, his stepsister, the complexity of the case began to unravel.

Police now suspect that Indrani was opposed to her daughter’s relationship with Rahul.

Khanna’s suspected involvement in the crime has also made investigator’s suspect a financial motive behind the murder.

Meanwhile, intriguingly, Khanna had purportedly shared a photo in mid-2014 with a message "grandchildren are the reward you get for not strangling your teenagers." This share was liked by Indrani, the main accused in the murder of her daughter Sheena from an earlier relationship.

Yet another post shared by him on April 20 last year said: "If you succeed in cheating someone don’t think that the person is a fool … realise that the person trusted you much more than you deserved."

Khanna was remanded on Friday in police custody, where will remain in their custody until August 31.

Dressed in a white shirt and khaki trousers with his face covered with a white cloth, Khanna was produced before a metropolitan magistrate on Friday.

Police claim Khanna conspired with Indrani, wife pf former STAR CEO Peter Mukherjea and Indrani’s driver Shyam Rai to murder her 24-year-old Sheena, Indrani’s daughter, on April 24, 2012. They claim that the trio abducted her, took her into the forest in Raigad’s Pen, held her down and strangled her, then burnt the body to make it unidentifiable.

Police said they required Khanna’s custody to find out whether there was anyone besides the trio involved in the crime. They also want to take him to the scene of crime to find the murder weapon and the car in which Sheena was abducted.

Khanna has been charged with conspiring, kidnapping and murdering as well as making evidence disappear.

Indrani was arrested on August 25 and later remanded in police custody till August 31. Khanna was arrested a day a later from Kolkata, while Shyam Rai, was arrested on August 25. 

Meanwhile,in another possibly significant development in the case, police have collected a few pieces of bones from JJ Hospital, where it was sent in May 2012, a month after Sheena's body was burnt and dumped.

"The hospital sent its report in 2013 saying it can not determine the age, sex or cause of death on the basis of the bones sent by the Pen police," Hospital Dean Dr TP Lahane said.

"Today, Khar police came to the hospital and collected the bones from us", Lahane said, refusing to provide details on whether the samples will prove to the case.

Mikhail Bora, brother of Sheena, was also brought down to Mumbai from Guwahati.  He has been claiming he has evidence to prove why his mother killed Sheena.

He said on Friday he would cooperate with the police.

"I will extend full cooperation to the Mumbai Police. I will get justice for her," Mikhail, who arrived here this afternoon, told a TV channel on board the flight.

A Mumbai Police team had earlier visited the maternal home of Indrani in Guwahati and talked to Mikhail.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, after hours of grilling of Indrani, her driver Shyam Rai and step son Rahul Mukherjea at suburban Khar police station, said late last night that police have a “fair idea” about the motive of the murder, but declined to elaborate saying the "third accused" (Sanjeev Khanna) was yet to be interrogated.

"We have a fair idea of the motive of the murder. However, the third accused (Khanna) is yet to reach Mumbai and to be interrogated. Only then, we will be able to tell you about the motive," Maria said.

The Mumbai Police questioning Khanna told a Kolkata court that he was allegedly involved not only in the murder of Sheena Bora on April 24, 2012, but also with its planning.    

Khanna has claimed that he had climbed into the SUV driven by Shyam along with Indrani, but had dozed off a few minutes later. He claimed that when he woke up he found Sheena dead near him.

Alipore city court granted the Mumbai Police Khanna's five-day remand after rejecting his bail plea on Thursday. —PTI