Sheena Bora’s heinous murder 6.5 years allegedly by her own mother Indrani Mukerjea came to light after the drunken driver spilled the beans
Today, May 18th, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Indrani Mukerjea in the Sheena Bora murder case as the court stated she has already undergone 6.5 years in custody and the trial will not end soon. The Court also stated that the other accused in the case, her husband Peter Mukherjea is already on bail since February 2020. Peter Mukerjea is a retired British television executive. From 1997 to 2007 he was the CEO of STAR India. In 2007 he joined INX Media as chief strategy officer. He quit the company in 2009 and retired to Bristol)
The court allowed Indrani to be released on bail subject to all those conditions on which Peter Mukherjea was granted bail.
This was after the CBI court had denied her bail on multiple occasions. In March, the CBI had opposed her bail plea in the Supreme Court as Indrani Mukerjea was charged with committing the egregious act of planning and killing her own daughter. The CBI court had also said that since Indrani Mukerjea is an influential person, there is every apprehension that she will threaten, intimidate or induce the prosecution witnesses.
A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai, and AS Bopanna passed the order in a special leave petition filed against an order passed by the Bombay high court in November 2021. The Supreme Court bench noted that the case is based on circumstantial evidence and that even if 50% of the witnesses are given up by the prosecution, the trial will go on.
The Heinous Sheena Bora Case
Sheena Bora was an executive working for Mumbai Metro One (Reliance Infrastructure) based in Mumbai, and she went missing on 24 April 2012. While her boyfriend, Rahul Mukerjea, filed complaints of Sheena missing, her mother Indrani Mukerjea informed him that Sheena had ditched him and gone abroad, which her boyfriend found hard to believe.
One day, the driver, Shyamvar Pinturam Rai, was out in a bar unknown to him being trailed by detectives for possession of illegal weapons. Rumors go that during that time over a few drinks, he talked about the murder of Sheena who was missing at that time. Indrani’s driver was arrested on 21 August 2015 and it is also alleged that, during his interrogation, he revealed further details of Sheena’s murder.
Sheena Bora’s brother, Mikhail Bora, also revealed that the mother was about to spike his drink as she did to Sheena, and got her killed and also alleged that she had bought two suitcases to dispose of their bodies, but he felt foggy after the drink and managed to escape, whereas Sheena unfortunately, did not.
In August 2015, Mumbai Police arrested her mother Indrani Mukerjea, her stepfather Peter Mukerjea, and her mother’s driver, Shyamvar Pinturam Rai, for allegedly abducting and killing her and subsequently burning her corpse.
Sanjeev Khanna her ex-second husband and Rai confessed to the crime, while Mukerjea has said that Sheena Bora is living in the United States.
Early life, family history, and personal life
Sheena Das Bora and brother Mikhail were born to Pori Bora (later known as Indrani Mukerjea), an Indian HR consultant and media executive, and Siddhartha Das in 1987 in Shillong, Meghalaya. Indrani left the children under the care of her parents, Upendra Kumar Bora and Durga Rani in Guwahati and moved to Kolkata. There she studied computers and stayed as a paying guest. Sheena and her brother were subsequently raised in the city of Guwahati by their maternal grandparents.
In Kolkata, Indrani married Sanjeev Khanna and the couple had a daughter Vidhie. They divorced in 2002, and Indrani later married Peter Mukerjea.
When Sheena learned about her mother and moved to Mumbai in 2006, Indrani introduced her as her younger sister. Sheena was admitted to St. Xavier’s College where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (2006-2009). In 2009, she joined Reliance Infrastructure as a management trainee. In June 2011, Sheena joined Mumbai Metro One as an assistant manager.
Disappearance
On 24 April 2012, Sheena took a leave of absence and “sent in her written resignation”.and On the same day, Rahul Mukerjea (Sheena’s step-brother who she was dating) received a breakup SMS from Sheena’s phone. Her mother, Indrani informed that Sheena had gone to the United States for higher studies and hence a missing First Information Report (FIR) was never filed. Sheena was never seen after 24 April 2012.
On Rahul’s insistence, Mumbai Police visited Indrani’s Worli residence where they were informed by the staff that Indrani was out of India. Upon her return, Indrani visited the Worli Police Station giving out a “false story” to the officers that Rahul was trying to stalk Sheena and that was why Sheena had moved to the US without informing him. (Rahul was the son of Peter Mukerjea which was why the parents disapproved of the friendship).
Sheena’s Murder and Investigation
Four months before her arrest, Mumbai Police started monitoring Indrani. On 26 August 2015, Sheena’s brother Mikhail revealed that she was Indrani’s daughter rather than a sister.
Days earlier, the mother and daughter had sent a series of messages where Sheena was apparently bitter about her mother pretending she was her sister. The day that the mother planned to murder her daughter, she sent her a message saying “Darling, we will talk about it” Sheena agreed that they would forget the whole matter and start afresh and they agreed to meet.
On 24 April 2012, ex-husband Khanna had flown to Mumbai and checked into the Hotel Hilltop at Worli. Driver Rai alleged that Indrani had rented an Opel Corsa to facilitate the abduction of Sheena and for disposal of her body. Indrani, he claimed, had earlier asked Sheena to meet her on the evening of 24 April 2012 and, Sheena though reluctant had agreed.
Quoting the First Information Report filed by Mumbai Police, the Hindustan Times reported that the driver, Rai had given a detailed account of the murder to the police. Rai alleged that Indrani had planned it and had discussed it with her ex-husband, Sanjeev Khanna. He alleged that Indrani had surveyed a likely area to dump the body the evening before the murder.
At about 06:00 PM on 24 April 2012, he went on, Indrani was joined by her ex-husband at his hotel in Worli. An hour later, when Sheena was dropped off by boyfriend Rahul Mukerjea near National College on Linking Road in Bandra, Indrani, Khanna, and driver Rai were there to meet her. Rai’s account continued, alleging that Indrani sat next to him while sedated Sheena was in the rear seat with Khanna. He said they took her to one of the by-lanes in Bandra and Khanna strangled her. Indrani they say was savagely stabbing her drugged daughter Sheena Bora screaming “Take your 3-BHK flat!” because Sheena Bora had asked her for money for a 3-BHK flat.
The police claimed that, after the murder, Sheena’s body was taken to Indrani’s house at Worli where it was put in a bag and stuffed in the trunk of the car.
Rai alleged that Khanna later left for his hotel while Indrani stayed home and Rai slept inside the car with the body in the trunk. In the early hours of 25 April 2012, he said, the three accused drove to the village of Gagode in Pen Tehsil, Raigad. Worried about the chance of police checks, they propped Sheena’s body up between Indrani and Khanna on the rear seat, as if asleep, rather than putting it in the boot.
At 04:00 AM on 25 April 2012, police alleged, they dragged the body out of the car in an isolated spot in the forest, stuffed it back into the bag, poured petrol over it, and set it ablaze. After the body was completely burnt, the accused returned to Mumbai. Khanna left Mumbai later that day.
A skull and parts of bones discovered days ago in a forest near Mumbai have been established as that of Sheena Bora’s by extensive DNA tests, claims the Mumbai police.
Sheena Bora was last seen alive in April 2012.
Arrest and Afterwards
On 25 August 2015, Mumbai Police arrested Indrani Mukerjea accusing her of murdering Sheena. Indrani was charged under sections 302 (murder), 201 (disposing of evidence or giving false statements), 363 (kidnapping), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and taken to the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrates’ court, which remanded her in police custody.
On 26 August 2015, Indrani’s ex-husband Sanjeev was also arrested in Kolkata and charged under sections 364 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 120-B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in the same case. Ex-husband Sanjeev allegedly confessed to the offenses charged. Peter Mukerjea was arrested on 19 November 2015, on charges related to Sheena Bora’s murder and was also accused of siphoning company funds into a bank account in Sheena Bora’s name in Singapore.
Of note, Indrani Mukherjea testified against Mr. P. Chidambaram and he was named in a charge sheet filed where Indrani (a criminal in jail for the murder of her daughter) was an “approver” in the case. Mr. P Chidambaram was freed after 106 days in jail for an INX Media money laundering case, which had no substantial evidence against him.