Mumbai: The focus in the high-profile Sheena Bora murder case has now shifted to the forensic analysis of the skeletal remains found in Raigad district in the western Indian state of Maharashtra where her body was allegedly dumped three years ago.
“We have sent the bones and other skeletal remains for forensic analysis and are awaiting report,” a police official said.
JJ Hospital had on Friday handed over to Khar police a few bones it had received from Raigad Police in 2012.
Police are also investigating Mikhail Bora’s claim that just hours before Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna met Sheena Bora on April 24, 2012 and took her for what would be the last drive of her life, Indrani had also allegedly drugged her son, Mikhail.
Mikhail has claimed that on the pretext of discussing a property deal, he was given a spiked drink in his hotel room in Worli by Indrani and Sanjeev, who then left to meet and murder Sheena.
By the time they came back, the suspicious, groggy Mikhail had fled.
Sanjeev Khanna, the former husband of Indrani Mukerjea, arrested in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case has confessed to his complicity, Mumbai Police chief, Rakesh Maria told reporters here Friday night.
“We interrogated the third accused [Khanna] and he has confessed to complicity in the crime. We have also recovered her [Sheena’s] passport from Dehradun, which negates the theory that Sheena Bora went to the US,” Maria said.
Khanna had earlier been remanded in police custody till August 31 by the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate court.
Maria said: “We have recovered skeletal remains of Sheena Bora. We will be dispatching the remains for a DNA test.”
On Friday, the police had called former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea and, Indrani Mukerjea’s son Mikhail Bora to the Khar police station for questioning.
The police refused to accept a written statement from Peter Mukerjea, and he was told that when the police required, he would be called to answer their queries.
The media baron then left the police station.
The Mumbai police team, probing the mysterious murder, have a lot to thank Ganesh Dhene, a village official in Pen tehsil of Raigad district, for helping them locate the spot where Sheena was allegedly buried in 2012.
A team of police, forensic experts and villagers had on Friday exhumed skeletal remains after Dhene, a Police Patil, identified the spot where Sheena’s body was allegedly dumped in the forests three years ago.
A team of police officials and forensic experts from Mumbai reached Gagode Budruk village in Pen teshil early on Friday and the digging started around 6am.
They learnt of Police Patil Ganesh Dhene of Hetevne village, who was present when the body was found at the crime scene on May 23, 2012, and also when it was later buried there by the police the same day.
Dhene, who has been Police Patil since 2011, remembered that the body was buried near a mango tree, which helped identify the spot and led the team there. Around noon, having dug just a couple of feet in the ground, the team sighted a portion of the skeleton sticking out.
As per the Bombay Village Police Act, a Police Patil is directly subordinate to the police department and the taluka magistrate.
In case a crime is committed in the limits of village, he makes immediate report to the police station and renders necessary help to the police officer to detect the offender.
After packing the skeletal remains in plastic bags, the team left for Mumbai at around 2pm on Friday.
“We have recovered skeletal remains of Sheena Bora. We will be dispatching the remains for a DNA test,” Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said on Friday.
Sheena’s mother, Indrani Mukerjee is believed to have killed her, allegedly by strangulating, with help from driver S.P. Rai and ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna on April 24, 2012.
During interrogation, Rai had said that he had helped Indrani in disposing of the body by dumping it in the forests of Raigad district.
