MUMBAI, Aug 26:
The Sheena Bora murder case today took a new turn with former Star India CEO Peter Mukherjea, husband of accused Indrani, saying that he was not aware that the deceased was her daughter and not her sister.
Indrani was arrested by Khar Police last night over her alleged role in the murder of Sheena Bora in 2012.
Peter said that though he was in shock, he would cooperate with investigators in the probe.
“I have never experienced anything like this before. The news I am getting, the kind of crime that has been committed, I would have never expected.
“Whatever help, information, police need, I am happy to help them with that. I would be absolutely clear and straight with them and cooperate,” he said.
“I don’t understand at all with regard to my wife… Sheena Bora is her sister, I believed all these years, and now I am being told that she was her daughter. Whom I thought was her brother, is now her son from an earlier marriage, which I was not aware of. I was aware of one marriage and not so many others. So, now there are number of things that are appearing to me which are completely new to me,” he said.
Peter said that his wife always told her that Sheena was her sister.
“I was always told by Indrani that she (Sheena) was her sister. And Sheena always maintained that. My son at one time was in relationship with Sheena. He told me Sheena is not her sister, she is Indrani’s daughter. I told him that look, it is not true. Indrani has told me that she is her sister.
“I believed my wife, so much so that it created a rift between me and my son. I have not spoken to him for last three years.”
He also said that he was unaware of Sheena having gone missing.
“(Sheena’s disappearance) is something I am finding out now. I was told that Sheena has gone to the United States. I am not on Facebook, but I was shown these pictures of Los Angeles or wherever she was. I didn’t have her contact number. My son had told me ‘see, something is not right’, but I said her parents may not be happy with it, so she might have moved to the US… That I told him… He (Peter’s son) didn’t talk to me then.”
Peter said, “I am in shock, really hard to process this information.”
Meanwhile, Indrani was produced before Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate court, which remanded her in police custody till August 31, DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said today.
Maharashtra’s Raigad police had found remains of Bora in a forest following which a murder case was registered against unidentified persons.
Indrani’s driver, a co-accused who was picked by police few days back in connection with the murder, too, was arrested yesterday.
During interrogation, the driver claimed that Indrani had killed Bora and that he had helped her in disposing of the body by dumping it in the forests of Raigad district, an officer at Khar police station, who is part of the investigation team, said on condition of anonymity.
“The case being more than two years old, where there isn’t any DNA sample of the deceased or appropriate remains of the body, police are only relying on co-accused’s statement,” the officer said.
Raigad police had come across an unidentified body, which they had disposed of without collecting DNA samples, he said.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria had interrogated Indrani at Khar police station yesterday.
The officer said they would take the two accused to the spot where the body was dumped. (PTI)