Indrani Mukherjea, the wife of former Star India CEO Peter Mukherjea, was arrested on Tuesday for the alleged murder of a young girl, who she claimed was her sister. However, it has now turned out that the victim, Sheena Bora, was Indrani's daughter.
Mikhail Bora, brother of Sheena Bora, claimed on Wednesday that Indrani is their mother and accused her of killing his sister.
"My sister was killed, I have no doubt about that, I had no clue when Sheena was dead, whenever I checked, Indrani always claimed Sheena is abroad and busy with her studies," IBN Live quoted Mikhail as saying.
The Mumbai police officials have also confirmed that Sheena was Indrani's daughter, not sister. They said that Indrani confessed during interrogation that Sheena was her daughter from her previous marriage.
Meanwhile, Peter has told NDTV that he was "dumbstruck" that Sheena was Indrani's daughter, not sister.
He revealed that his son Rahul Mukherjea and Sheena were in a relationship before Sheena disappeared in 2012, the year Indrani allegedly murdered her. He further said that both he and Indrani opposed their relationship. Rahul is Peter Mukherjea's son from an earlier relationship.
"They were both adults so they carried on. When I was told that Sheena was sent off to the US, I felt a sense of relief," said Mukherjea.
Indrani had said the same to Mikhail as well.
However, her claims turned out to be false two years later when Peter and Indrani's driver revealed about Sheena's murder to the police during interrogation in another case.
The driver, 43-year-old Shyam Manohar Rai, was arrested on 21 August in connection with illegal arms case and was being questioned about the same when he confessed to committing some other crimes, including Sheena's murder.
Rai told the police that on the instructions of Indrani, he and his accomplice kidnapped and murdered Sheena and disposed off her body near a farmhouse in Lonavala. He body was allegedly set ablaze before burying.
"It was during his interrogation that he revealed his involvement in a 2012 murder (Sheena Bora's) case," The Indian Express quoted a senior official as saying.
"He (Rai) revealed that he was a driver for Indrani and had helped her murder and dump the body in a field around a farmhouse," a police official said.
With the help of the clues provided by Rai, the Mumbai police reached the spot and dug out skeletons of a human being.
"We connected the dots as we found a body there based on his claims. Her partial skeletal remains were found buried and these have been sent for forensic tests," an officer said.
Following this, the Khar police detained Indrani for questioning and produced her and Rai before a Bandra Court on Tuesday. The court remanded both in judicial custody until 31 August.
The police believe that a possible property dispute could be the motive behind the murder, but they "are also looking at possible enmity over a personal relationship".
Indrani is the founder and former CEO of 9X Media group. Sheena and Mikhail stayed in Guwahati with their grandparents till 2004 after which Sheena moved to Mumbai for work. Mikhail had claimed that he lost contact with Sheena in 2004 and was not in touch with Indrani since 2014.
Indrani Mukerjea daughter Sheena and Peter Mukherjea Son Rahul had an affair. Reason for murder? Investigation on. pic.twitter.com/YSVvkXVGYl
— Vikas Mishra (@vikasmishraa) August 26, 2015