Jailed former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, accused of murdering her 25-year-old daughter Sheena Bora in 2012, has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that Sheena is alive and living in Kashmir.
As per the letter sent to the CBI, Indrani claims that a fellow inmate had met Sheena in Kashmir and has requested the agency to investigate the claim.
According to The Indian Express, Mukerjea's lawyer Sana Ranees Khan has confirmed that she wrote to the CBI on 27 November, but added, "We have no details to what she wrote." Khan said that she will be moving a formal application before the trial court on 28 December.
According to Indrani's letter, the inmate told her on 25 November that she is a government official and had met Sheena in Srinagar where she was on a vacation, reported The Times of India.
Indrani's bail application was rejected by the Bombay High Court last month. The CBI had taken over the case in late 2015 after months of investigation by the Mumbai Police.
Background
On 24 April 2012, Sheena was allegedly abducted and murdered.
Indrani Mukerjea, 49, was arrested by the Khar police for the alleged murder on 15 August 2015 and has been lodged in Byculla women's jail since September 2015.
According to CBI, Indrani committed the crime as she was enraged with Sheena over her relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, her husband and media mogul Peter Mukerjea's son from an earlier marriage. After the murder, Indrani had allegedly told everyone that Sheena had moved to the US.
Along with Indrani, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, Peter Mukerjea and driver Shyamvar Rai are said to be behind the conspiracy.
Peter Mukerjea was also arrested three months after her arrest on the charges of assisting Indrani in the murder but was granted bail in 2020.
The murder case was brought to light when Shyamvar Rai was caught with a gun. During his interrogation, he revealed that he allegedly witnessed the murder.
Investigators claimed that Indrani had strangulated Sheena in Bandra, Mumbai and had disposed off her body in neighbouring Raigad district.
However, she has refuted all the allegations.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and The Times of India.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)