Mumbai
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]F[/dropcap]or months, a “failed” media tycoon and former Chief Execuive Officer of Star Group (India) Peter Mukerjea feigned innocence in the murder of his step-daughter Sheena Bora, leaving his wife Indrani Mukerjea to fend for herself. On Thursday, hours after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) field chargsheet against Indrani and two others for planning and executing the brutal crime, the probe agency gave a new twist to the case by arresting Peter.
The CBI sleuths arrested Peter from his Worli residence and took him to the CBI office in south Mumbai. The high-profile man who once wined and dined with the high and mighties of the media and social world, now faces charges of criminal conspiracy in the sensational murder case. Peter will be produced before a court on Friday morning and the CBI is expected to seek his remand for custodial interrogation.
While a CBI spokesperson merely said that Mukerjea’s name surfaced during the probe , sources claimed that Peter has been arrested for “shielding the accused” and over “inconsistencies” in his statements.
Indrani, who was arrested on August 25, is now in the custody along with her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamwar Rai. All three have been chargsheeted by the agency.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]D[/dropcap]uring several rounds of interrogation by the Mumbai police in the past, Peter feigned ignorance about the crime, but his answers were far from convincing. While the Police failed to nail him amidst reports that some “powerful” people were trying to shield him, during the course of investigation the CBI found evidences which firmly linked Peter with the crime.
Incidentally, the Maharashtra Government had transferred then Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria in the midst of the probe, fuelling speculation that it was done to preempt any move to give clean chit to Peter.
Twenty-four-old Sheena, who worked with a private company in Mumbai, was strangled to death in a car on the night of April 24, 2012 allegedly by Khanna in the presence of Indrani and driven to an isolated spot in the forests near Gagode village in adjacent Raigad district, around 80 km south of Mumbai.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he accused trio poured petrol over the body, set it afire and dumped the half-burnt remains in the thick bushes from where it was found on May 23, a month later, by a local villager. However, at that time, Raigad police failed to register a complaint in the case and the matter is being separately investigated.
Nearly three years after the killing, forensic and other tests confirmed that the remnants found in the forests were indeed of Sheena.
