The 11-day-long CBI custody of former media baron and accused in the Sheena Bora murder case Peter Mukerjea ended on Tuesday, as a city court remanded him in judicial custody till December 14.
After the CBI told the court that he is no longer needed in its custody, Magistrate NB Shinde remanded Peter in judicial custody for two weeks.
Hearing an application under Section 167 of the CrPC seeking 14-day judicial custody for Peter, the Magistrate ruled: “The accused is remanded in judicial custody till December 14”.
On being remanded in judicial custody, Peter was sent to the high-security Arthur Road prison where two other accused in the case — Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai are lodged. Indrani Mukherjea, the prime accused, is lodged at the Byculla women under-trials’ prison.
Fifty-nine-year-old Peter, who was arrested on November 19 on charges of conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence in the case, was subjected to prolonged interrogation and a polygraph test by the CBI during his 11-day-long custody with the investigating agency.
Informing the court that it had completed its investigations pertaining to Peter, CBI counsel Kavita Patil urged the Magistrate to remand him to judicial custody.
Taking a pot shot at the CBI, Peter’s lawyer Kushal Mor said in the court that he did not have any objection to the CBI seeking further extension in the custody of his client if the agency chose to do so.
On Monday, the court had extended the CBI custody of Peter by a day on the ground that it wanted to ascertain if he had made any ‘deceptive reply’ during the polygraph test conducted on him on Saturday and Sunday. Peter, who had been taken by the CBI to New Delhi on Friday, was brought back to Mumbai on Monday, after conducting a polygraph (lie detector) test on him.
The CBI had told the court on Monday that it was expecting polygraph report on Tuesday. The CBI had also informed the court that it was expecting information from Interpol on a bank account opened in Hong Kong by Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder either by Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
At the hearing held on November 26, the CBI had told the court that Peter and his wife Indrani invested as much as `900 crore in various companies formed by them in 2006-07 and that it was trying to establish the modus-operandi adopted by them in allegedly siphoning off the money from Messrs 9X Media Pvt ltd and parking the illegal proceeds in the benami accounts in India and abroad.
Giving details for the first time about the alleged financial trail in the Sheena Bora murder case, the CBI quoted Peter as having revealed to the investigators during his custodial interrogation that his wife and prime accused in the case Indrani might have opened an account in Sheena’s name in HSBC or other bank in Singapore or Hong Kong.
The CBI had also informed the court that it had written to Interpol seeking access to accounts of Mukerjeas including one in Sheena’s name at HSBC Bank, Singapore.
At Monday’s hearing, the CBI counsel told the court that that Peter had been confronted with many documents and transactions. He said that Peter had revealed that a major portion of money was given to Vidhie, daughter of Indrani from her second marriage with Sanjeev Khanna, and some portion was also given to Sheena Bora, Indrani’s daughter from her first living-in relationship with Siddharth Das.
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 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 first marriage with Siddharth Das.