Exclusive: “No Clean Chit” to Peter and Mikhail, Says Mumbai Cop
“No clean chit” given to Peter Mukerjea or Mikhail Bora in Sheena Bora murder case, Mumbai Police tells The Quint.
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Ten days after Indrani Mukerjea was arrested for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, Mumbai Police said on Friday that “no clean chit has been given to either Peter Mukerjea or Mikhail Bora”.
As the police grapple to unearth, and prise out from the alleged perpetrators, the motive(s) and intent behind the killing, a senior Mumbai Police officer familiar with the sensational murder told The Quint that Mikhail and Peter are not out of the woods yet.
Investigations are on and I cannot comment on any matter that is being probed, but no clean chit has been given to Peter Mukerjea or Mikhail Bora.
— Senior Mumbai Police Officer
Mikhail, Indrani’s son born out of wedlock, has been questioned for long hours since he was flown to Mumbai to join the investigation.
While Peter Mukerjea has made contradictory statements to the media immediately after Indrani’s arrest on August 25, he has been subjected to sustained questioning for three consecutive days. The police has not divulged what Mikhail may have shared with the investigators.
The former Star India CEO, who finds himself in the midst of a case in which his wife of 15 years is the prime accused, Peter Mukerjea claimed in a TV interview that he was in Rome the day (April 24, 2012) Sheena Bora was murdered.
According to media reports, the police has evidence that he was in the UK, the day Sheena was allegedly strangulated before her body was burned and dumped in the forests of Raigad, about 120 km from Mumbai. Peter Mukerjea has tried to maintain that he knew far less about the relationship between Indrani and Sheena and the financial situation arising out of the controversial February 2009 sale of NewsX TV news channel to Indi Media Company Pvt Ltd.
As the case gets more and more tangled with every passing day, there is no sign of the police getting anywhere close to extracting confessions from the three accused. Besides Indrani, her former husband and Kolkata-based businessman Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Syamwar Rai, Mikhail’s role in the case needs deeper scrutiny.
Mikhail’s statements before the media in Guwahati leaves a trail of unanswered questions. His candid statement that Indrani tried to have him killed in April 2012 does not sit well with his rather expensive lifestyle, since his sister went missing on April 24, 2012.
Unanswered Questions
Why didn’t Mikhail file a police complaint of attempt to murder in 2012? Why did he quietly leave Mumbai? Why is he revealing these facts now?
Mikhail claimed he was aware that his sister Sheena could be murdered too, then why didn’t he make rigorous effort to contact her all these years? Why did he believe Indrani’s account of Sheena being in the US? With Sheena missing, what stopped him from filing a missing person’s report with either the Mumbai or Guwahati police?
He claims to possess “photographic evidence” which proves the motive behind the murder. Why didn’t he share this information with police earlier? Has he shared them now, even as he has handed out a copy of his grandfather’s will and his birth certificate to the Mumbai Police?
Was Mikhail hiding Indrani’s secrets because he was financially dependent on her? It is reported that Mikhail quit his job sometime after Sheena’s murder. If that is true, then how did he manage his lifestyle? From where did he arrange Rs 12 lakh to purchase the Tata Ariya once he returned to Guwahati from Mumbai in 2012?
Does his conduct make him a peripheral, if not an active conspirator in the case?
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