NEW DELHI, Dec 16: The jailed former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, whose trial for the murder of her daughter had hit the headlines then, has created a new sensation by claiming that the “killed” daughter was actually “alive.”
Accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012, Indrani Mukerjea has written to the CBI claiming her daughter was actually alive and has requested the agency to investigate, adding a bizarre new twist to the sensational case. The agency, however, is learnt to have not taken her claims seriously.
Mukerjea claims she met a woman prisoner who told her that she had met Sheena Bora in Kashmir, sources say, citing the letter sent directly to the CBI chief. “She wrote to the CBI, we have no details of what she wrote,” said her lawyer Sana Khan on Thursday adding that she would move a formal application for bail.
Indrani Mukerjea, 49, has been in the Byculla prison in Mumbai since 2015. She was arrested for the murder of 25-year-old Sheena Bora, her daughter from her first marriage, whom she had passed off as her sister for years. Three months after her arrest, her now ex-husband Peter Mukerjea was also arrested on charges of helping Indrani in the murder of her daughter from her previous husband.
Investigators who have not taken her latest claim seriously claimed that Sheena Bora was murdered by Indrani Mukerjea with the help of her driver Shyamvar Rai and her second husband Sanjeev Khanna. Indrani did it because she was enraged with Sheena over her relationship with Rahul Mukerjea – Peter Mukerjea’s son from an earlier marriage – according to the CBI, which took over the case in late 2015 after months of investigation by the Mumbai police. The CBI also said Sheena Bora had threatened to expose her mother after a financial dispute between them.
After the murder, Indrani allegedly told everyone that Sheena had moved to the US. Three years on, the murder surfaced when Indrani Mukerjea’s driver was arrested in a separate case. Based on the driver’s statement, Sheena’s half-burnt body was dug up from a forest near Mumbai. Some 60 witnesses have recorded their statements in the trial, which started in 2017. While still in jail, Indrani and Peter Mukerjea ended their 17-year relationship and were granted a divorce in 2019. Peter Mukerjea was released on bail in 2020.
(Manas Dasgupta)