Sheena Murder Case: Employment Records Show She Resigned in May
A day after Indrani Mukerjea’s arrest in Sheena Bora murder, case gets murkier.
Rahul Mukherjea, son of Peter Mukerjea, was questioned in Khar Police station.
He evaded questions by the media.
It’s been a day of dramatic developments in the Sheena Bora murder case. While it transpired that Indrani’s former husband is also a suspect, other family members opened up to the media.
Here’s what we know.
- Indrani Mukerjea, who is a key suspect, is Sheena’s mother, and not sister as she had originally claimed. This was confirmed by Sheena Bora’s brother Mikhail Bora.
- Mikhail Bora said he was shattered to learn of his sister’s death. He had been told she was abroad for studies. Mikhail now says he believes his mother Indrani was behind Sheena’s murder.
- Peter Mukerjea, Indrani’s husband, supplied a potential motive. In media interviews, he said that Indrani was upset that his son Rahul Mukerjea and Sheena had an affair. Rahul and Sheena are step siblings. Rahul Mukerjea was subsequently questioned by the police.
- Sanjeev Khanna, Indrani’s second husband, was arrested in Kolkata. His was the third arrest in the case, after the arrests of Indrani Mukerjea and her driver Shyam Rai.
- Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said in a media statement that Sheena Bora was strangulated and later burnt. In an unusual move, he claimed publicly that the trio had killed Sheena Bora. He also said Sheena’s remains were discovered almost a month after her murder in April 2012.
What we don’t know
- The police have been tight-lipped about the DNA collected from the murdered body of Sheena.
- There has been no information about Rahul Mukerjea. Rahul is Peter Mukerjea’s son from an earlier marriage. Rahul has been inactive on social media for an year now. Police say they are on the look out for him.
- Identity of Sheena and Mikhail’s biological father is not revealed yet.
According to a report in Tehelka, Peter and Indrani funnelled huge sums of money to various members of the family during the audit of their company, 9x Media, in 2009.
Now, the police have revealed that Sheena refused to transfer the money back. A feud between her and Indrani over this eventually led to her killing.
Friends of Sheena Bora’s brother, Mikhail Bora, organised a candlelight vigil in Guwahati, in memory of the deceased.
The Strange Case of Indrani Mukerjea’s Arrest and Sheena Bora’s Death
- Indrani Mukerjea arrested by Mumbai Police on Tuesday, 25 August in the death of Sheena Bora.
- Sheena Bora was not Indrani’s sister as she claimed, but her daughter.
- Indrani Mukerjea’s husband Peter Mukerjea to media: Indrani disapproved of Sheena Bora’s relationship with my son Rahul Mukerjea.
- Sheena Bora and Rahul Mukerjea, step-siblings, were in a relationship.
Times Now reports that Sheena Bora’s employment records show that she had resigned on May 6, 2012, which is after she was killed.
Mumbai police had claimed that she was killed on April 24, 2012.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria claimed that Sheena Bora was strangled to death and that then her body was burnt with petrol and disposed off in Raigad.
Maria also claimed that the murder took place on April 24, 2012 and that the body was recovered by the police on May 23, 2012.
Maria has also claimed that the three accused - Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and the driver Shyam Rai who are now in custody - killed Sheena Bora.
Mumbai police take Indrani Mukerjea to an undisclosed location. She will be in police custody till August 31.
Sheena Bora’s brother Mikhail says that if their mother Indrani Mukerjea does not speak the truth, he will release the evidence in his possession.
Indian Express reports that Indrani Mukerjea’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna has been arrested in Kolkata.
TV reports say Indrani Mukerjea’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna is being quizzed.
A young man who dated Sheena Bora in high school says he and his friends knew Indrani Mukerjea was her mother.
Mikhail Bora has now said that if Indrani Mukerjea does not confess, he will provide evidence to the police. He also said that he doesn’t believe his sister Sheena Bora was killed over a property dispute.
CNN-IBN reports that Mumbai police team has reached the residence of Peter Mukerjea’s house. The police might record his statement in the Sheena Bora murder case.
Step-siblings Had Affair, Indrani Didn’t Approve Says Peter Mukerjea
Sheena Bora and Rahul Mukerjea, who are step-siblings, had an affair, said Peter Mukerjea in a phone interview to CNN-IBN.
The case has grabbed the headlines after the arrest of Indrani Mukerjea, the wife of Peter Mukerjea, in the alleged murder of Sheena Bora.
Sheena was reportedly passed off by Indrani as her sister, but it
has since been discovered that she was in fact, Indrani’s daughter from a previous marriage.
CNN-IBN reports that police are now questioning Sanjeev Khanna who is Indrani Mukerjea’s first husband.
Mumbai police Commissioner Rakesh Maria confirms to CNN-IBN that Sheena Bora was Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter.
Peter Mukerjea Drops Bombshell
CNN-IBN is quoting Peter Mukerjea, the husband of Indrani Mukerjea as confirming speculation that Sheena and his son (step-siblings) had an affair.
Peter Mukerjea, in a telephonic interview to NDTV, said that in 2012 he was told that Sheena had gone to the US for further studies.
“My son had tried to contact Sheena but her phone was switched off for obvious reasons. When he came to me, I asked him to move on, he said”.
Brother’s Interview Confirms True Relationship Between Sheena, Indrani
It seems pretty clear that Sheena Bora was Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter, not sister. In an interview to Times Now, Mikhail Bora who is Sheena’s brother confirmed that they are Indrani’s children. He also said that Indrani and Sheena had conflicts.
I want justice for my elder sister.
— Mikhail Bora, Sheena’s Brother
Meanwhile, Indrani has also reportedly admitted to the police that she is Sheena’s mother, and not sister as she has all along claimed.
Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, Peter Mukerjea said he was shocked over the arrest of his wife.
The police will not make up a case and they would arrest a person only after they have something against her. They told us that she is being taken to a police station in connection with a case. There was nothing amiss in my wife’s conduct and the two share a very normal relationship like any other siblings.
— Peter Mukerjea
He said he did not recall details of the missing person’s complaint registered in May 2012 for Sheena. He said he didn’t know of any farmhouse that Indrani’s family owned or visited in Raigad.
Motive For Alleged Murder Personal?
Times Now reports that the motive for the murder of Sheena Bora may not be just a property dispute; it may even have been a personal tiff. A police team has been sent to Kolkata for further investigations and are on the lookout for a third person, who remains unnamed to the media.
CNN-IBN adds that Mumbai Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria was a part of the team that grilled Mukerjea.
Avirook Sen, former Executive Editor of NewsX, speaks of his experiences, and his meetings with Indrani Mukerjea, who was ‘ever keen to increase her stake,’ in the company.
Two or three times every month, there would be these ‘Indrani’ meetings. Indrani Mukerjea nee Bora, was Peter’s wife, half of the ‘Power-that-was’ at NewsX, but ever keen to increase her stake
— Avirook Sen, Former Executive Editor, NewsX
Read his hilarious take here.
Sheena’s batch mates from St Xavier’s College have tweeted her reaction.
Indrani Mukerjea, wife of former Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea, has been arrested by the Mumbai Police on charges of murdering her sister Sheena Bora in 2012 and disposing off her body.
However, according to The Telegraph, an even more dramatic element has been added to the case,
With a close family friend claiming that she had been told Sheena was Indrani’s daughter from an earlier relationship. The claim could not be verified with either Peter, the former CEO of STAR India, or the legal representatives of Indrani who has been sent to police custody till August 31. But at least four other friends echoed the family friend.
The murder would have remained a mystery had the police not been ‘tipped off that Indrani’s driver Shyam Rai had been seen frequenting the place in Raigad from where Sheena’s body was found.’
Following the lead, police officers of the Khar Police Station, Mumbai took Mukerjea’s driver Shyam Rai into custody. After questioning, Rai admitted that he had murdered Bora at Mukerjea’s behest, and dumped her body in the forests of Raigad, Maharashtra.
Remains of a woman’s dead body were then discovered at the spot Rai mentioned. He was arrested thereafter, and based on his confession, Mukerjea was asked to appear for questioning on Tuesday, she was arrested after a three-hour-long interrogation session.
Indrani had introduced Sheena to Mumbai society as her sister. Sheena and a younger boy were born to Indrani when she was married to another man before she became Peter’s wife.
– Family Source to The Telegraph
‘Sheena and her brother, were brought up by their maternal grandparents in Guwahati. The children eventually moved to Mumbai and Sheena did her graduation from St. Xavier’s College there.’
Mukerjea and Rai have been booked under Sections 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping) and 201 (destroying evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
Indrani Mukerjea founded INX Media Pvt Ltd in 2007, through two companies INX Media Pvt Ltd and INX News Pvt Ltd, and was the Chairman of the company till 2009. She has worked as a PR consultant in the past.
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