Sheena Bora murder case
Mumbai: In a dramatic development, the CBI here on Thursday evening arrested former media tycoon Peter Mukerjea in connection with the murder of his step-daugther Sheena Bora.
Peter — the husband of one of the three prime accused and Sheena’s mother Indrani Mukerjea — was picked up from his Worli residence by a Central Bureau of Investigation team on Thursday evening and taken to the CBI office in south Mumbai.
Peter, the fourth accused in the case so far, is a former CEO of Star Group, and has been charged with criminal conspiracy in the sensational murder case.
Arrested on August 25, Indrani is currently in CBI custody along with two other prime accused — her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamwar Rai.
The CBI earlier on Thursday had filed a charge sheet against Indrani, Khanna and Rai in a Mumbai magistrate court.
Peter is likely to be produced before a court on Friday morning with the CBI expected to seek his remand for custodial interrogation.
In fast-paced developments during the day, the CBI lodged a FIR against Peter, making him the fourth prime accused in the case which the central agency is probing since mid-September.
The sudden arrest has come as an embarrassment for Mumbai police which had questioned him repeatedly after the murder case broke out in late August.
Earlier, there were allegations of Peter’s ‘close proximity’ to certain police officials, and several discrepancies in his statements to the investigators.
Though the real motives behind Sheena’s killing are as yet unclear, speculation revolves around suspected financial and property dealings in various parts of India and even abroad.
Officials hint that the latest development points to possible links between Peter and the other three accused in the case.
According to investigators, Sheena, 24, an employee with a private company in Mumbai, was strangulated in a car on the night of April 24, 2012.
Her body was taken in the vehicle to an isolated spot in the forests near Gagode village in adjacent Raigad district, around 80 km south of Mumbai.The 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.