Rahul Was Suspicious of Ex-Cop’s Role in Sheena’s Disappearance

Rahul Mukerjea suspected a former Mumbai cop’s involvement in Sheena Bora’s disappearance, writes Chandan Nandy.

(Photo: Lijumol Joseph/ The Quint)

The taped phone conversation between Peter Mukerjea, his son Rahul and Indrani Mukerjea, in connection with Sheena Bora’s disappearance since 25 April 2012, has yet again brought to focus the likely involvement of a former Mumbai Police officer in the girls’ murder and the subsequent destruction of the body in Pen taluka of Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

The Quint pieced together information from documents related to the CBI’s investigation, which, read along with Rahul’s pointed question to Peter on his “security chief’s” (when the latter was CEO of Star TV) telephonic conversation with Sheena over a Blackberry handset and an internet dongle, brings to the fore that he suspected the former cop’s involvement in Sheena’s murder.

While Rahul claimed that it was this former police officer who dealt with Sheena on the so-called Blackberry handset and the dongle, the statement of the ex-cop’s younger brother to the CBI indicates that he made it appear to the investigators that he, and not his elder brother, discussed the “purchase of a new laptop and its configuration” with Sheena.

File photo of former Mumbai Police Commissioner, Rakesh Maria. (Photo: PTI)

Ex-Cop Close to Rakesh Maria

The ex-cop is close to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria who was removed from that post for taking undue interest in the Sheena Bora murder case. He is also believed to be the person who tipped off Maria about the murder. He has so far not been put through intense interrogation, with the CBI continuing to dilly-dally over examining at greater length. CBI sources, however, said that they will likely file a third chargesheet in the weeks to come.

In April 2012, Indrani Mukerjea asked me to talk with Sheena Bora regarding purchase of a new laptop and its configuration etc. Accordingly, I talked with Sheena Bora 2-3 times in between 14.2.12 to (sic) 19.4.12 about the configuration of laptop and thereafter 2-3 messages were also exchanged between us during 13.4.12 to 23.4.12. After that, no contact was done in between Sheena and me.

The ex-cop’s younger brother in his statement, recorded on 2 December 2015.

Sheena and Rahul a few days before her death. (Photo: The Quint)

Phone Calls Not Probed

The Quint has previously reported that Indrani called the ex-cop’s younger brother twice on the evening of 24 April 2012, the day Sheena was allegedly murdered in Pali Hill inside a car. The first call was made around 7:24 pm (supposedly while the alleged murder was being committed; it was, however, made on her way to Taj Lands End) and the second at 8:29 pm when Indrani was at the hotel, in all likelihood with Sheena, sipping Margaritas.

The former police officer’s younger brother reportedly showed up late night at the Mukerjeas’ Marlow apartment where, according to a Sheena’s brother Mikhail, he collected a cheque from Indrani. Could it be that the calls were made by Indrani to the ex-cop who may have used his brother’s phone on the evening of 24 April 2012? The CBI has maintained a stunning silence on these phone calls and the cheque that was collected from Indrani.

Mumbai Ex-cop Under a Cloud

• Taped phone conversations between Peter, Indrani and Rahul Mukerjea have brought the role of a former Mumbai police officer under the scanner.
  
• Documents related to the CBI’s investigation point to the former cop who had telephonic interactions with Sheena before her murder in April 2012.
  
• Ex-cop is known for his proximity to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and is believed to have tipped him off.
  
• Multiple sources have confirmed that the driver Shyamwar Rai, now an approver in the case, worked for the ex-cop before being employed by Indrani.
  
• Ex-cop has a sprawling farmhouse barely 30 kms from the spot where Sheena’s body was found in Pen, Raigad district.
  

More Phone Calls

Strangely enough, besides the calls between Indrani and the ex-cop’s younger brother, there are records of phone calls and exchange of texts between Indrani’s driver Shyamwar Rai and the former police officer’s younger sibling before and after Sheena’s murder. They spoke for 97 seconds on 19 April 2012, thrice on 25 April and once on 27 April , followed with an SMS that Rai sent to the person. The calls were made in the day time as well as late at night.

Multiple police sources in Mumbai have confirmed that before finding employment with the Mukerjeas, driver Rai worked for the ex-cop who hired him back after Indrani terminated his job seven months after Sheena’s murder. In July, the ex-cop became the principle director of a security company with office in Mumbai’s Santacruz.

Suspected Role in Murder

The Quint’s investigations suggest that not only did the ex-cop play a central role in planning Sheena’s murder but had a hand in disposing off her body and its “discovery” on 23 May 2012, when a ‘police patil’ (friend of the police) chanced across a burnt and decomposed body in Pen, 40-50 feet downslope from the Pen-Khopoli Road while “collecting ripe mangoes”.

The ex-cop has a sprawling farmhouse barely 30 km from the spot where Sheena’s skeletal remains were found. The Quint has learnt that the eyewitness, Sandeep Patil, a resident of Khalapur near Pen, who has claimed he saw Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai at 5 am on 25 April 2012, at Gagode Khind, has “friends” among policemen who are also friends with the ex-cop. Patil’s statement is not reliable because Indrani, Khanna and Rai allegedly left Marlow on that date closer to 5 am. Pen is 120 km from Mumbai.

Also read:

Sheena Murder: Pen Cops’ Dodgy Claims & Animal Bones as Samples

Mumbai Police Ex-ACP May Have Played a Role in Sheena Bora Murder

Five Ways CBI’s Chargesheet in Sheena Bora Murder Case is a Mess

Sheena Murder: Driver Rai Has Wilfully Lied in Sworn Confession