MUMBAI: In a dramatic turn in the Sheena Bora murder case, her mother Indrani Mukerjea, who is accused of killing her, has claimed her daughter is alive and in Kashmir.
Indrani, lodged in Mumbai’s Byculla jail for her daughter’s murder, has written to the CBI director claiming that a woman official in the prison told her he had seen Sheena in Srinagar while on a vacation there.
Indrani has urged the CBI to search for her daughter in Kashmir. Her lawyer said she would move an application in this regard before the special CBI court on December 28, the next date of hearing in her case.
CBI officials refused to comment on the claim. However, when the murder had come to light in 2015, the body had been exhumed by police and medical/forensic reports had confirmed it was that of Sheena.
According to the CBI, 23-year-old Sheena was murdered in 2012 by Indrani in conspiracy with her then husband Peter and ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna over a financial dispute.
A woman government official told her that she had seen Sheena Bora while on vacation in Srinagar, Indrani, lodged in Byculla Women's Prison here since 2015, claimed in the letter.
When contacted, a CBI official refused to comment.
Indrani would be moving an application in this regard before the special CBI court here on December 28, the next date of hearing in her case, the lawyer said.
The special court is conducting trial of the high-profile murder case.
Sheena Bora (24) was allegedly strangled in a car by Indrani Mukerjea, her then driver Shyamvar Rai and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012.
As per the CBI, Indrani disapproved of Sheena's relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, son of former media baron and her then husband Peter Mukerjea from an earlier marriage.
She and Sheena also had financial dispute, the agency said.
Sheena's body was allegedly burnt in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district.
The murder came to light in 2015 when Shyamvar Rai spilled the beans when questioned by police in another case.
Peter Mukerjea is out on bail in the case.
(With PTI Inputs)