MUMBAI: Police believe that Indrani Mukerjea, the prime suspect in the Sheena Bora’s murder case, could have escaped from the clutches of law if she hadn’t created fake email IDs in Sheena’s name.
Police have claimed that Indrani had allegedly asked a woman from her staff to create a hotmail ID in Sheena’s name after her alleged murder on April 24, 2012. According to them, Indrani used this fake ID for almost a year during her stay in the UK to send emails to her husband Peter and daughter Vidhie in an attempt to give them an impression that Sheena was staying in the US.
Police have traced to the UK the IP addresses of the exchanges between this fake ID and Peter’s email. Peter, Indrani and Vidhie had relocated to Bristol, UK, a couple of months after Sheena was killed. On Saturday, police raised these findings while seeking an extension to the accused’s custody and the First Class Magistrate in Bandra extended the custody of Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai till Monday. There was a heated argument between the prosecution and Indrani’s lawyers in the court. Indrani’s lawyers alleged that police were not allowing her sign documents while in custody. The prosecution countered the argument, saying her signature could be used for impersonation. Police told the court that they needed to search Indrani’s bank accounts, some in Mumbai and some others in London. They are investigating the money trail after the Mukerjeas’ sold their stakes in INX Media in 2009.
According to a senior police officer, after the murder, Indrani had impersonated Sheena and sent texts to her live-in partner and Peter’s son, Rahul, saying she was ending the relationship.
The emails from the fake ID are likely to work in Peter’s favour as he can claim that he was completely unaware on Sheena’s disappearance. Police questioned Peter for long hours on three days but couldn’t find any evidence establishing his involvement in the murder. Police are likely to take Sheena’s brother Mikhail Bora to his home town Guwahati to question his grandparents. They have claimed that they recreated Sheena’s face on the skull exhumed from a forest at Pen, around 80 km from Mumbai, where Indrani, Khanna and Rai allegedly disposed of the body.
They also have claimed that Indrani had applied makeup on Sheena’s face before taking her body to Pen from Worli.
‘Stop Media Trial’
Former city Police Commissioner Julio Ribeiro has shot off a letter to the Bombay High Court, requesting it to intervene to keep the media at a distance from the investigation in the Sheena murder case.