Mumbai: A Mumbai court extended former media tycoon Peter Mukherjea’s custody until November 26 even though the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sought a 10-day extension to interrogate him.
Mukherjea is the fourth accused in the murder of his 24-year-old stepdaughter, Sheena Bora.
Bora was the daughter of Indrani Mukherjea, Peter’s wife, who is the prime accused along with her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai. Peter was arrested by the CBI on November 19 on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and abduction.
The CBI told the magistrate that Mukherjea had disclosed during questioning investments made by him and wife Indrani in UK and India but not the source of money.
The Mukherjeas had sold in 2009 INX Media, which they founded. The CBI said financial transactions appear to be the motive of the murder and suspect Peter’s involvement in a larger conspiracy, all of which the agency said requires more time to probe. The CBI said that Peter, although in London, had talked to his wife before, during and after the murder of Bora.
Bora was murdered on April 24, 2012 allegedly by her mother as she and Rahul Mukherjea, older son of Peter, wanted to get married. The mother reportedly felt that all the assets and properties would go to the couple and her own position in the family would be diminished. It has also been reported that Bora was blackmailing her mother.
Indrani, who had told her social circle in Mumbai that Bora was her sister, was strongly opposed to their relationship even though the two had got engaged.
On Sunday Rahul defended his father and said he was certain of his innocence. Peter is said to have accompanied his son when he submitted the recordings of phone conversations with his father to the CBI.
According to reports, Rahul, in an email conversation with his father, had wanted to know where his girlfriend Sheena was as he could not reach her after he had left her in Bandra on April 24, when she was later picked up her mother, Sanjeev Khanna and the driver.
Peter had told his son that Sheena was fine and said, “I think you are wasting your time worrying about Sheena.”
The CBI says he lied to his son even though he knew Sheena was dead. Rahul had also approached Indrani on the whereabouts of Sheena and was told through messages sent from Sheena’s phone that she had left for the US.
Not convinced by these answers, he had filed a missing persons complaint with the Khar police station. Even Mikhail, Indrani’s son from an earlier relationship and Bora’s brother, had queried his sister’s disappearance. His mother had threatened to cut off the financial assistance being provided to him and it did stop completely in 2014.
Both Rahul and Mikhail had asked Sheena’ friend to track her down. Her friend told her husband about it and he in turn approached a senior police officer. After that Indrani’s driver Rai was kept under surveillance and he spilt the beans. That is how it seems the tragedy of a young woman’s life and the sordid murder came to light.
