NEW DELHI:Peter Mukerjea became the TV industry’s posterboy after Kaun Banega Crorepati, the blockbuster series that was Amitabh Bachchan’s comeback act and Mukerjea’s kickstart to be a crorepati. “Originally, the idea emanated from a conversation between Rupert Murdoch and Sameer Nair, so lets give credit where it is due,” says Raveena Raj Kohli, former CEO of Star News. Another high-ranking colleague said the Mukerjeas were known as the ‘Babli and Bunty’ at Star. Peter’s success story could have come out straight from a Jeffrey Turner novel, full of ambition, intrigue, sex and power. His real name is Protin, but the former Doon school student chose to anglicise it and acquired a British accent in Hong Kong. The Mumbai Police say Sheena could have been involved in ‘benami’ financial deals with the Mukerjeas and was blackmailing them in order to marry Rahul.
Peter’s rise from selling space in Star India to media baron started around 1999 when he became CEO. Star India had brokered an arrangement with NDTV to produuce the news show Star News at around Rs 70 crore annually. Peter, backed by Murdoch, ended the arrangement in 2003. Star News became a separate entity. Finance wiz Hemendra Kothari created a structure in which, according to news reports, Murdoch held 26 per cent in the newly formed Star News, with Kothari and Kumaramangalam Birla owning between 25 per cent each. The rest was given to ‘persons of eminence’—consultant Suhel Seth, journalist Vir Sanghvi, lawyer Raian Karanjawala, businessman Sunil Alagh and actor Jeetendra. After the I&B ministry intervened, the major investors exited and the ‘eminent persons’ sold their shares to Aveek Sarkar, owner of Ananda Bazar Patrika, for an unknown amount, according to a financial source in Mumbai. “Peter got a big cut out of it,” says a former stakeholder. The deal made Mukerjea a star player in the industry with a jet set lifestyle, powerful friends and arm candy. Soon, Indrani, who he was dating, was given the HR contract to hire staff for Star, for which she was paid a hefty commission.
Insiders said Mukerjea left Star in 2007 with a huge bonus and other perks which he was entitled to. Later he leveraged his reputation to raise funds for a new TV entity. Sources said, Uday Kotak put together an investment deal with Singapore-based Temasek, New Silk Route Advisors founded by Parag Saxena, Rajat Gupta, Raja Rathinam and others, Kotak Mahindra Bank and New Vernon Private Equity. News reports say the Mukerjeas controlled 50 per cent of INX Media—in total, Rs 750 crore had been raised. Indrani reportedly held 74 per cent in NewsX. When INX started teetering financially, Temasek reportedly went for an audit and discovered the couple had siphoned off crores of rupees in the name of family members, including Peter’s brother Gautam Mukerjea. Police sources say Peter and Indrani, both NRIs, own five houses in London, one each in Britsol and Spain and a family home in Mumbai. Their total wealth is calculated at over Rs 800 crore. The Mukerjeas sold their equity stake in the INX Group for about Rs 500 crore.