Having found “sufficient evidence” against him, the CBI on Tuesday filed a supplementary charge-sheet against former media baron Peter Mukerjea in the Sheena Bora murder case for various offences, including murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence and giving false information, in connection with the killing of his step-daughter.
less than three months after he was arrested in the Sheea Bora murder case, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet before the court of Additional Metropolitan Magistrate RV Adone, against Peter in the Sheena Bora murder case under ten Sections of the IPC, including including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder.
The other Sections of the IPC under which Peter has been booked are: 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 201, 202 203, (destruction of evidence and giving false information), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) & 471 (using a forged document as genuine).
Fifty-nine-year-old Peter was arrested on November 19 last year on charges of conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence in the case.
Hours before it arrested Peter on November 19, the CBI — which had taken over the investigations into the Sheena Bora murder case on September 29 — on Thursday had filed a comprehensive chargesheet, running into 1,000-odd pages, against Indrani Mukherjea, her second husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai. The chargesheet contained statements of 150 witnesses, 200 documents and seven statements recorded before magistrate.
The prosecution’s case has been that Indrani and other two arrested accused – her second husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai – allegedly “abducted” Sheena between 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm on April 24, 2012, from Bandra (west) in their car and “strangulated” the latter the vehicle and that on the following morning they carried the body of the deceased packed in a bag (which had they kept in the rear side of the car) to the jungles Gogade Khurd village off the Khopoli-Pen Road, where they doused the bag with petrol and set it on fire.
Indrani’s husband Peter, who is the fourth accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, has been charged with having been part of the conspiracy to kill his 24-year-old step-daughter Sheena, who is Indrani’s daughter from her live-in relationship with Siddharth Das.
Official sources said that the CBI had, in its supplementary charge-sheet, nailed Peter’s false claim that hat he had no knowledge of nor did have any role to play in the murder of Sheena Bora.
It may be recalled that in the initial stages of the investigations, Peter had told the Mumbai police that he had all along believed that Sheena was his Indrani’s sister and not her daughter as was the case.
So much so that on the basis of the evidence it had gathered in the case, the Prosecution told a metropolitan court here on November 20 that Peter was found to be involved in the criminal conspiracy with his wife in the murder of Sheena, that he had destroyed evidence like mobile phone and other items of slain step-daughter and that he had “misled” his biological son Rahul that Sheena was very much “alive” in “doing well” in the United States.
Peter, who was subjected to prolonged interrogation and a polygraph test by the CBI during his 11-day-long custody with the investigating agency, is believed to have spilled the bills on the various illegal investments made by him and his second-cum- key accused in the case Indrani Muhjerjea.
Sources said that the various disclosures made by Peter Mukherjea, which had earlier been mentioned in the multiple remand applications made before the special court have been mentioned in the 52-page charge-sheets filed against him before the special court here on Tuesday.
Peter, who was the CEO of Star India between 1997 and 2007, set up INX Media after quitting Star India. Seeking to overcome a legal obligation that prohibited Peter, who is a British citizen and had to make do with a no-compete clause, set up INX media in Indrani’s name in 2007. While he anointed Indrani in the CEO’s position in INX media, Peter became the chief strategic officer in the company. As the CEO of INX Media, Indrani took full control of the company.
Having found that Peter Mukhejea and his wife Indrani invested as much as Rs 900 crore in various companies formed by them in 2006-07, the CBI investigated the allegations that Mukherjea couple had siphoned off money from Messrs 9X Media Pvt ltd.