Mumbai: More murky details emerged in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case that became curiouser and curiouser as former STAR CEO Peter Mukherjea on Thursday went back on his claims admitting that Sheena had told him that she was not his wife Indrani's sister.
In another twist, Indrani had ascribed the parentage of Sheena to her parents but her father disputed it.
On a day when fresh information surfaced, police believed that it was a cold-blooded murder as Mumbai's top cop Rakesh Maria grilled Indrani, her driver and step son Rahul Mukherjea while her son Mikhail was questioned in Guwahati and her former husband in Kolkata.
However, the motive behind the murder remained a mystery even as the driver S P Rai and Sanjeev Khanna, a former husband of Indrani Mukherjea, are believed to have told police that Indrani, wife of former Star CEO Peter Mukherjea, had done a recce of the place where the body was to be dumped a day before the murder on April 24, 2012.
Mukherjea, who yesterday claimed that he knew Sheena only as his wife's sister, today detracted, saying Sheena had told him some time back that she was Indrani's daughter.
When he confonted Indrani with what Sheena had told him, she dubbed it as "utter rubbish", he told a news channel.
He also claimed that Indrani had shown him an e-mail in which Sheena had purportedly stated that she want to end love affair with Rahul, Mukherjea's son from an earlier marriage.
Indrani's father Upendra Kumar Bora disputed his daughter's claim that murdered Sheena Bora was his daughter.
"Sheena is not my daughter. I am her grandfather," said 80-year-old Bora, whose name was said to have been given by Indrani as father in the birth certificate of Sheena, who was born in February, 1989.
Khanna, who had divorced Indrani, is believed to have told the Mumbai police in Kolkata that he was in the car in which Sheena was allegedly strangulated but claimed to have slept during the cirme in which he had no role.
This apparently contradicted the arrested driver's claim before police that Indrani and Khanna had strangulated Sheena in the car after giving her a spiked drink in a hotel room in Mumbai.
Then the body was taken to Pen in Raigad taluk where it was burnt with petrol. Khanna had reportedly come to Mumbai on April 23, 2012, a day before the murder and took a flight back to Kolkata on April 25, according to police sources.
In a murder in which intriguing relationships have come to surface with Indrani claiming Sheena as her sister, television channels showed the purported birth certificate of the victim.
The document records her as daughter of Upendra Kumar
Bora and Durga Rani Bora, who are actually her grandparents, i.E., the parents of Indrani. Her date of birth has been given as February 11, 1989.
For the second time in less than 12 hours, Rahul Mukherjea was questioned by police about his relationship with his step sister. Indrani and Peter had reportedly opposed the affair.
With the case turning murkier, Maria was himself involved in the investigation being conducted in Khar police station in suburban Mumbai.
Though the investigators are yet to reach definite conclusions on the motive of the murder, all angles including Indrani's dislike towards Sheena's alleged relationship with Rahul.
With the arrest of Khanna and his suspected presence in the city on the day of the murder, police are looking into financial angle as well, police sources said.
The investigators are also planning to question officials of Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), where 24-year-old Sheena was working as an assistant manager since June 20, 2011.
Rahul was quizzed late last night by the police. According to police officials, Rahul was again grilled about his 'relationship' with Sheena and also over the reasons for not pursuing the missing complaint about her.
He was also taken to two flats in suburban Bandra and Khar where he had allegedly spent some time with Sheena when they were seeing each other, they said.
Rahul and Sheena were said to have been dating for over a year, which Indrani did not like.
Police are also planning to seek details from Mumbai Metro One Pvt Limited, where she had worked since 2011 till the day of her disappearance.
Sheena had taken leave of absence on April 24, 2012, and, while she was on leave, sent in her written resignation, MMOPL had said yesterday in its statement.
Meanwhile, Indrani's lawyer moved an application in the local metropolitan magistrate's court in Bandra seeking home food, clothes and permission to meether in custody.
The court later directed the prosecutor to file his reply in the application and adjourned it till tomorrow.
Late in the night, Maria told reporters that police was awaiting the arrival of Khanna from Kolkata to piece together the sequence leading to Sheena's death.
"We are only on the second day of our investigation. Once the third accused comes, we will be in a better position after questioning him," he said.
"Everything is not possible within 48 hours," he said counselling the media to be "patient".
"Our teams have gone to Kolkata, Guwahati and other parts of the country....The investigation is moving at a brisk pace. It would be proper that further details of the investigation are communicated to you (media) in due course," the Police Commissioner said.
In response to questions over contradictory claims, he said Sheena is the daughter of Indrani.
