Sheena Bora Murder Case: Peter Mukerjea Arrested by CBI
MUMBAI: Media tycoon Peter Mukerjea was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday evening in the case related to the murder of Sheena Bora, the daughter of his wife Indrani Mukerjea. He will be produced in a Mumbai court tomorrow.
Ms Mukerjea, the prime accused in the case, was arrested two months ago and has been in a Mumbai jail since September 7. According to the agency, her accomplices in the crime were her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai.
Sources said there were conflicting elements in the statements of Peter and Indrani Mukerjea and the arrest was made to establish the truth through custodial interrogation.
Sheena Bora, 24 — who was allegedly strangled in April 2012 – was the unacknowledged daughter of Ms Mukerjea. In public, she was introduced as Ms Mukerjea’s sister. She was also engaged to Rahul Mukerjea, Mr Mukerjea’s son from an earlier marriage — a relationship that her mother disapproved of strongly.
The murder remained undiscovered for three years, during which time, Ms Mukerjea allegedly told friends and family that Ms Bora had left for the US. This August, Ms Bora’s remains were found in a forest near Raigad, around 80 km from Mumbai.
After initially examining whether Ms Bora was killed because her mother was upset about her relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, the police looked into the financial motive. In 2007, the Mukerjeas had co-founded the broadcasting group INX media, which they exited in 2009 amid talk of embezzlement and proxy firms.
The case was transferred to the CBI on September 19 after allegations that the new police chief, Ahmed Javed, was “close to” Mr Mukerjea, KP Bakshi, a top bureaucrat in Home Ministry had told .
The agency filed a chargesheet in a Mumbai court earlier today, which said Ms Mukerjea kept Ms Bora’s body overnight at the home she shared with Peter Mukerjea, before driving it to Raigad the next morning. There, the body was set on fire.
