KOLKATA/GUWAHATI: The Guwahati friends of Indrani Mukerjea nee Bora, who is accused of murdering her daughter Sheena, say she was originally known as Pari (fairy in Assamese).
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A miasma of murky mystery surrounds this high-profile media prima donna and her antecedents. Sources in Guwahati say Indrani had fled from home while studying in Class X with a Khasi youth from Meghalaya. The reason could be her allegation that after her biological father disappeared and her mother Durga Rani Bora married Upendra Kumar Bora, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by her step-father. The Assam Police say if this is true, Indrani is right in a bizarre way—Sheena was both her sister and her daughter.
While she was in class XII at Cotton College, Guwahati, sources say she secretly married the son of a local doctor at Kamakhya temple. It lasted barely six months since the in-laws disapproved. It could not be ascertained if Indrani had stayed in her marital home. The ex-husband is now a lawyer. The marriage, an acquaintance of Indrani says, cost Indrani one academic year.
After she finished school, Indrani was sent to study in Lady Keane College in Shillong where she met Sidharth Das, had an affair, and became pregnant by him. Sheena was born. The next year Mikhail, named after the President of the erstwhile Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, was born. Indrani’s Guwahati neighbours say they were not sure if she and Das were ever formally married, since they were not invited to any marriage reception. They wondered how Indrani’s parents even accepted the relationship.
Some reports suggest Das was a tea planter. But the neighbours argued if he was so rich, why would he run a roadside eatery in Guwahati financed by Upendra? The neighbours remember seeing the couple moving around town on a two-wheeler. Das lived with his in-laws until he broke up with Indrani. Still, he occasionally would drop in, until one day the visits stopped. Since then, there is no news about him. Locals say he is from Shillong or Tripura. Other reports say he is a businessman from Agartala who traded in Guwahati and Kolkata. A senior police official told The Sunday Standard that Das lived in southern Assam’s Karimganj town until a few years ago. “We don’t know where he lives now or if he is dead or alive,” he says.
During the last few days, another name linked to Indrani has cropped up—Chirag—who had once studied with her in a private coaching in Shillong. Chirag is reportedly a school teacher there, and is suspected to be the father of one of Indrani’s children. Schools records are also contradictory. After Indrani gave up her children for adoption, the names of Upendra and Durga Rani figure as their parents.
Another set of documents show Siddhartha Das as the father. Teachers of Disneyland school, now renamed Sudershan High School, recollect that Das had attended Sheena’s parent-teacher meeting. Indrani’s step-father, currently living in a blue-roofed house in Dispur, said, “I am the grandfather and Siddhartha is the father.” Asked about his whereabouts, he said, “I don’t know.”
Indrani came into prominence first in Kolkata after gaining entry into the party circuit and tony clubs in the mid-90s. She married Sanjeev Khanna and became well known in the clubs and party circuits. Khanna, an alumni of Mayo College, whose friends describe him as a fun-loving, broad-hearted man who loved his whisky in the evenings at Calcutta Cricket & Football Club, but would get bored soon, and would keep changing jobs and business ventures, which Indrani disapproved of.
A club member told The Sunday Standard that Indrani tried to befriend the son of a former chief minister of West Bengal but failed. Meanwhile Sanjeev and Indrani had a child named Vidhie who Sanjeev was attached to. Indrani dumped Khanna. The divorce was an ugly affair, but he did not get Vidhie’s custody. Peter later adopted her.
The ambitious Indrani, a typical small-town girl who thought big, was determined to party on. She met Alyque Padamsee and managed to make it to the Mumbai ra-ra set. He introduced her to Peter, who was then the boss at Star India. Besotted, he reportedly dumped his girlfriend Sapna, and married Indrani.
The couple were invited to all power parties in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, more because of Peter’s status than his wife’s charms. A Mumbai socialite says Indrani would try hard, but also could be quite arrogant.
“She had no real friends,” says a Delhi P3P regular. But all of them agree that she had an eye for the most powerful men at any party, and would cultivate them, invite them to parties at their house, and socialise with them. Indrani’s fantasy to be a celebrity had come true by then—she made it to the Wall Street Journal’s list of top 50 most influential women in business in 2008. Her opulent lifestyle included living in a luxurious bungalow in Mumbai and one at Bristol, UK.
Indrani had told her children she would introduce them to Peter as her sister and brother and assured them of a huge monthly allowance. Both Sheena and Mikhail were mesmerised by the powerful media baron when he visited Guwahati. An officer of the Guwahati Police commissionerate said, “The Boras are basically a lower middle class Assamese family. The girl made it big but we are surprised that Peter came here, stayed in a hotel and met Indrani’s children, but never bothered to visit her house.”
West Bengal Police sources say the day Indrani was arrested by Mumbai Police, telephone calls from some senior bureaucrats from Kolkata were made to influential people in Assam saying, “Can you please do me a favour? Peter’s wife has been arrested on a murder charge. Can you please get me the telephone number of his in-laws? Peter badly needs to talk to them.”
While Vidhie is under Peter and Indrani’s control, Sheena was smart enough and refused to part with the funds parked in her accounts, which could be the reason that eventually led to her grisly undoing.
Mother or sister?
An affidavit, attributed to “Mrs Indrani Bora” shows Mikhail and Sheena Bora were given to their grandmother by Indrani for adoption. The date on the affidavit shows Sheena and Mikhail were four and three respectively and Indrani was 20. Which makes Indrani aged 16 when Sheena was born and 17 when Mikhail was born. Sheena’s birth certificate shows she was born on February 11, 1989.
Therefore, the affidavit was possibly filed in 1993. But a woman, who studied with Indrani, insists that Indrani could not be 20 in 1993 given that they both passed the Class X exam in 1982—usually students are 16 or 17 then. Indrani mentioned the name of her husband as “S Das”. “That I mutually separated from my husband Shri S Das and I have no relation since 1989.”
Husbands Galore
1982: Has a temple marriage with a doctor’s son who is now a lawyer. Broke up in 6 months.
1983: Has a short relationship with a Khasi boy. He vanishes.
1985-1998: Marries Sidhartha Das and has two children. Das disappears after a few years.
Marries Sanjeev Khanna in 1993 and Vidhie is born. They get divorced.
2002: Marries Peter Mukerjea and eventually becomes founder of INX Media