News Analysis India

Tag: Indrani Mukerjea

  • Sheena Bora murder: Court rejects Indrani’s plea about CD of Rahul’s conversation with Peter and her

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A special CBI court here on Wednesday rejected a plea by Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder, that a CD of Rahul Mukerjea’s telephonic conversation with her and former media baron Peter Mukerjea be treated as evidence in the case.

    Judge S P Naik Nimbalkar rejected the plea, saying it was not required at this stage of the trial.

    Indrani had contended that proper procedure was not followed by the police while transferring the recorded conversation to the CD. The CD had been played in the court during Rahul Mukerjea’s deposition as a witness.

    Rahul, Peter Mukerjea’s son from an earlier marriage, was in a relationship with Sheena when she disappeared.

    He had called Peter and Indrani about her disappearance and recorded the conversation as he suspected that something was fishy.

    “The device from which original content was transferred was not functioning properly and has been tampered with,” Indrani’s application claimed. The CD had been prepared by Khar police, who probed the case initially.

    Sheena Bora (24) was allegedly strangled to death in a car by her mother Indrani Mukerjea, driver Shyamvar Rai and Indrani’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012. The body was burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district.

    The murder came to light in 2015 after Rai spilled the beans about the crime following his arrest in another case. Peter Mukerjea, Indrani’s then-husband, was also arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy.

    He was granted bail in February 2020. Indrani got bail earlier this year.

    MUMBAI: A special CBI court here on Wednesday rejected a plea by Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder, that a CD of Rahul Mukerjea’s telephonic conversation with her and former media baron Peter Mukerjea be treated as evidence in the case.

    Judge S P Naik Nimbalkar rejected the plea, saying it was not required at this stage of the trial.

    Indrani had contended that proper procedure was not followed by the police while transferring the recorded conversation to the CD. The CD had been played in the court during Rahul Mukerjea’s deposition as a witness.

    Rahul, Peter Mukerjea’s son from an earlier marriage, was in a relationship with Sheena when she disappeared.

    He had called Peter and Indrani about her disappearance and recorded the conversation as he suspected that something was fishy.

    “The device from which original content was transferred was not functioning properly and has been tampered with,” Indrani’s application claimed. The CD had been prepared by Khar police, who probed the case initially.

    Sheena Bora (24) was allegedly strangled to death in a car by her mother Indrani Mukerjea, driver Shyamvar Rai and Indrani’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012. The body was burnt in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district.

    The murder came to light in 2015 after Rai spilled the beans about the crime following his arrest in another case. Peter Mukerjea, Indrani’s then-husband, was also arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy.

    He was granted bail in February 2020. Indrani got bail earlier this year.

  • Sheena Bora murder case: Bombay HC grants bail to Indrani Mukerjea’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sanjeev Khanna, the former husband of Indrani Mukerjea, arrested in the Sheena Bora murder case. A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre directed Khanna to furnish a surety of Rs 1 lakh, his advocate Shreyansh Mithare said.

    The co-accused in the case – Indrani and her former husband Peter Mukerjea – are also out on bail. The high court had granted bail to Peter in 2020, while the Supreme Court gave relief to Indrani last month. Sheena Bora (24) was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Indrani, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and Khanna in April 2012.

    Bora was born out of Indrani’s previous relationship. Her body was burnt and dumped in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district. Khanna is accused of conspiring and partaking with the prime accused Indrani in the murder.

    He was arrested in 2015 and has been in jail since then.

  • Felt Indrani was lying about Sheena’s whereabouts, Rahul Mukerjea tells court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Rahul Mukerjea, the son of former media baron Peter Mukerjea, on Thursday told a special CBI court here that Indrani Mukerjea’s replies to him about her daughter Sheena Bora’s whereabouts did not seem “truthful”, and he sensed that something was amiss.

    Indrani Mukerjea is a prime accused in the case related to Sheena’s 2012 murder.

    She is now out on bail.

    The murder came to light in 2015, three years after Sheena (24) was allegedly killed by her mother with the help of co-accused Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai.

    On Thursday, Rahul Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea’s son from earlier marriage, deposed as a witness before special CBI court judge S P Naik-Nimbalkar.

    Peter later married Indrani.

    Rahul told the court about his relationship with Sheena, and narrated the sequence of incidents after he dropped her near suburban Bandra on April 24, 2012, for her meeting with her mother Indrani.

    Later in the evening, when he sent Sheena a text message about picking her up, Sheena replied “she is having fun catching up with Indrani and will spend the night with her,” Rahul told the court.

    He found this message odd as just a day before Sheena was apprehensive about meeting Indrani, he said.

    The following day, after he made several calls and sent messages, Sheena `replied’ (by message) that she will be home in about 30 minutes, Rahul said.

    After two hours, he got another message from her that “she has met someone else, who was very wealthy.

    She is in love with him and he should not contact her.

    ”At this point he did not think that Sheena’s life was in danger, but thought that she might have been sedated by someone, he told the court.

    He then went to Marlow building in Worli in south Mumbai where Indrani lived to meet Sheena, but he didn’t find them there, Rahul said.

    He then went to the local police station in Worli, and two police constables were sent to the building to enquire about Sheena.

    When they asked the watchman, he said three people had left earlier in the morning, Rahul told the court.

    But the police refused to take his written complaint about Sheena going missing, and told him that she had gone with her mother and would be fine and he should not worry, he said.

    He got similar response from the Bandra police station under whose jurisdiction she had been seen last, and MIDC( Andheri) police station under whose jurisdiction they lived.

    Through his mother he got the number of senior police officer Param Bir Singh.

    Singh told him that it was very important to get a missing person complaint registered, Rahul told the court.

    Later, the MIDC police noted down the information about his complaint in a police diary, he said.

    He also called his father Peter, Sheena’s grandparents and her school friends, but none of them had any information about Sheena, he said.

    When he asked Indrani about Sheena, he felt that her response was not “truthful”, so he started recording his phone conversations with Indrani, Rahul told the court.

    In one of these conversations Indrani told him that Sheena was in Nagpur, he said.

    Another time, Indrani said Sheena had gone back to Guwahati, while on one occasion she told him that Sheena had gone to the US.

    “I felt Sheena going to the US was not possible as her passport and belongings were at home,” Rahul said.

    “I felt that Indrani was lying for some reasons… Because of her different answers, I felt that Indrani was lying,” he said.

    Rahul Mukerjea’s testimony will continue on June 17.

    As per the Central Bureau of Investigation, Indrani disapproved of Sheena’s relationship with Rahul.

    She also had financial disputes with Sheena, the CBI has said.

  • SC grants bail to Indrani Mukerjea in Sheena Bora murder case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora.

    A three-judge bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said the trial is not going to be completed anytime soon.

    “The allegation made against the petitioner is that she planned the murder in view of the live in relationship of her daughter with Rahul Mukerjea, who was the son of Peter Mukerjea and his earlier wife,” the bench said.

    “We are not making comments on the merits of the case. Even if 50 per cent witnesses are given by prosecution, the trial would not be over soon. She will be released on bail subject to satisfaction of the trial court. The same conditions imposed on Peter Mukerjea will also be imposed on her,” the bench also comprising Justices B R Gavai and A S Bopanna said.

    Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Indrani Mukerjea, who is currently lodged at the Byculla women’s prison in Mumbai following her arrest in August 2015.

    Rohatgi submitted that the trial is not going to complete anytime soon as a large number of witnesses are yet to be examined. She had been denied bail on multiple occasions by a special CBI court, which is conducting the trial in the murder case.

    Bora (24) was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Indrani Mukerjea, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012. The body was burnt in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district.

    Bora was Indrani’s daughter from her previous relationship. Former media baron Peter Mukerjea was also arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy. He was granted bail by the high court in February 2020. His marriage to Indrani Mukerjea ended during the period of incarceration.

  • CBI unwilling to probe if Sheena is alive in order to cover up its shoddy investigation: Indrani to court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, has said the CBI was reluctant to probe her “Sheena is alive” claim to cover up their own “shoddy investigation” in the case.

    Indrani had recently submitted an eight-page application before the special CBI court claiming that Bora is alive and had urged it to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe her claim.

    Last, week the CBI had submitted a written response, which said her claim was a “figment of her imagination” and that it was “next to impossible” Bora was alive.

    The CBI had further said Mukerjea’s application had no merit and that it had been filed with malafide intention to delay the hearing of the trial.

    On Thursday, Mukerjea, through her lawyer Sana Khan, filed a rejoinder to CBI’s reply.

    The details were made available on Saturday.

    “The CBI’s reply is devoid of merits, malafide and shrouded with misleading and false submissions, assumptions and presumptions with a clear intent to suppress the truth,” she said in her rejoinder, adding that the agency’s reluctance to examine Asha Korke was nothing but a clear indication of “malafide intent” to cover their “shoddy” investigation in this case.

    Mukerjea has claimed Asha Korke, a former police inspector lodged in Byculla women’s prison in an extortion case, had told her that in June, 2021 she had met a woman in Srinagar who looked like Sheena Bora.

    Her rejoinder further said the CBI had conducted the investigation in the case in the most “unprofessional” and “shockingly shoddy manner”, causing grief to the applicant (Indrani) who is completely innocent.

    “The evidence that has come on record in the court has concretely established several false and palpably wrong information and evidence has been presented to make a false case against the applicant (Indrani),” it said.

    She claimed CBI had misled the court and was still making attempts to cause prejudice against her.

    Indrani Mukerjea was arrested in 2015 along with her then husband Peter Mukerjea and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in connection with the killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.

  • ‘Figment of her imagination’: CBI refutes Indrani Mukerjea’s claim that daughter Sheena Bora is alive

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The CBI has said that Indrani Mukerjea’s plea claiming that her daughter Sheena Bora, whom she is accused of killing, is alive, is a “figment of her imagination” and “next to impossible”.

    Mukerjea had recently submitted an eight-page application before the special CBI court, claiming that Bora is alive.

    In the application submitted through her lawyer Sana Raees Khan, Mukerjea had sought that the CBI and prosecution be directed to file an affidavit in response.

    Mukerjea claimed that Asha Korke, a former police inspector lodged in Byculla women’s prison in an extortion case, has allegedly told her that in June, 2021 she had met a woman who looked like Sheena Bora in Srinagar.

    The probe agency, in its response last week, stated after conducting a thorough investigation it had filed a chargesheet and two supplementary chargesheets against Mukerjea, Sanjeev Khanna, Shyamvar Rai and Peter Mukerjea under various sections of the IPC including murder.

    “Her application has no merit, the same has been filed with malafide intention to delay the hearing of the trial,” the CBI said.

    It further stated that there was ample oral, documentary, medical and scientific evidence on record proving the complicity of the accused.

    The central probe agency said the accused has the prime role in committing the murder of her own daughter by strangling her and setting the body ablaze.

    All evidence – oral, documentary and scientific – clearly establishes that Indrani Mukerjea is the prime accused, who hatched the conspiracy to murder Bora and executed the same with the help of co-accused, it said.

    There is no substance in her plea.

    It is a cooked up story either by the accused or by the so-called Asha Korke, the probe agency said.

    Since Bora had been strangled to death, it is impossible that she is alive and living somewhere in Kashmir and she spoke to Korke, it said.

    It is nothing but a figment of imagination of Mukerjea or Korke, it said, adding that the application is “far-fetched”.

    It cannot be believed as the investigation has concluded.

    Despite having every inch of evidence pointing out the same, the accused has the audacity to make the wildest of claims, the CBI stated in its affidavit.

    Indrani Mukerjea was arrested in 2015 along with her then husband Peter Mukerjea and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in connection with the killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.

  • CBI files reply to Indrani’s application which claimed Sheena Bora was alive

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The CBI on Friday filed its reply to Indrani Mukerjea’s plea that claimed her daughter Sheena Bora, whom she is accused of killing, was alive.

    The details of the probe agency’s response, which was filed before special CBI judge A S Sayyad, however, were not known as yet.

    Last month, Mukerjea had, in an 8-page application, sought the court to direct the CBI, the prosecution, to file an affidavit in response to her claims.

    She had also sought to know if the Central Bureau of Investigation had taken any steps to ascertain her claims that Sheena Bora was alive.

    As per the application, in November last year, a woman introduced herself as Asha Korke, a former police inspector who was arrested in an extortion case also involving former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, inside the Byculla women’s prison.

    Korke allegedly told Mukerjea that in June, 2021 she was in Srinagar where she met a woman who looked like Sheena Bora.

    When Korke approached the woman and asked if she was Sheena Bora, the woman replied in the affirmative, the application said.

    Indrani Mukerjea was arrested in 2015 along with her then husband Peter Mukerjea and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in connection with the killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.

  • Sheena Bora murder: CBI tells court about closure of further probe

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday informed a special court here about closure of further probe into the Sheena Bora murder case, which came to light in 2015, three years after the crime was committed.

    Intimation regarding closure of further investigation into the high-profile case was filed by the CBI before special judge A S Sayyad.

    Bora, who was working in Mumbai, was allegedly killed by her mother Indrani Mukerjea, a former media executive, and two others.

    Mukerjea is a key accused in the case.

    Other accused in the case include former media baron Peter Mukerjea and Indrani Mukerjea’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna.

    Bora was Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter from an earlier relationship.

    The 24-year-old was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Indrani Mukerjea, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and Khanna in April 2012 over a financial dispute, according to the prosecution.

    Her body was burnt in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district.

    The matter came to light in 2015 following the arrest of Rai in another case and led to the arrest Indrani Mukerjea and Khanna.

    Peter Mukerjea was also later arrested for allegedly being a part of the murder conspiracy.

    He is currently out on bail, which was granted by the Bombay High Court.

    Indrani Mukerjea and Peter Mukerjea had got married in 2002, but later became estranged.

    A family court in Mumbai granted them divorce in October 2019.

  • Sheena Bora murder case: Jail report placed in HC says Indrani Mukerjea stable

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court was on Monday informed by the Byculla womens’ prison authorities that the medical condition of Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, is stable and that she does not suffer from any severe ailments.

    A report was submitted by prison authorities following directions earlier this month from HC, which is hearing a plea filed by Mukerjea seeking bail on medical grounds.

    She is lodged in Byculla womens’ prison since her arrest in August 2015.

    As per the jail report submitted before a single bench of Justice P D Naik on Monday, Mukerjea does not suffer from any severe ailments that cannot be treated at the prison.

    It said Mukerjea was taken to JJ Hospital two times and her reports were normal.

    The court, after perusing the report.

    directed CBI, the prosecuting agency, to file its affidavit in response to the bail plea within two weeks, and posted the matter for further hearing on March 8.

    The prosecution’s case is that Mukerjea and former husbands Sanjeev Khanna and Peter Mukerjea killed her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012.

    Peter Mukerjea was granted bail in February 2020, while Khanna is still behind bars.