Indrani Mukherjea, former CEO of INX Media Pvt ltd and key accused in the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, was rushed to the State-run JJ Hospital on Friday afternoon after she fell unconscious due to drug overdose at the Byculla women undertrials’ prison where she is currently lodged.
Confirming that Indrani had been brought to the JJ Hospital in an “unconscious” state at 2 pm, Dean of the hospital Dr TP lahane told The Pioneer, “Yes. It is true she was unconscious when she was brought here from the jail in the afternoon. She is still unconscious but stable”.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Department ordered an enquiry into the drug overdose. The enquiry will cover all angles, including how Indrani managed to get hold of the tablets, a senior CMO official said.
“We suspect that she had consumed overdose of medicine,” Dr lahane said. What
has surprised the authorities as to how Indrani accessed
more tablets than the prescribed dosage for her reported epilepsy.
“We have heard she was taking anti-seizure (epilepsy) tablets twice a day. We are confirming the jail authorities as to the specific tablets that she was taking and the ailments she had,” Dr lahani said.
Informed sources said that Indrani would take one tablet each in the morning and evening in the presence of officials at the Byculla jail. “She had taken the tablets in the morning. We are not sure as to how many tablets she took in the morning and as to how accessed more number of tables than the prescribed number of tablets,” sources said.
The State jail administration has, meanwhile, ordered an inquiry into the circumstances leading to Indrani falling unconscious.
Indrani’s hospitalisation has come four days after the CBI took over the investigations into the Sheena Bora murder case.
A couple of days ago, Indrani’s mother Durga Rani Bora, 82, passed away in Guwahati. It is not known whether the prison authorities conveyed the news of her demise to Indrani.
Indrani was arrested along with her driver Shyamvar Rai, who has confessed to his complicity in the crime.A day later, Indrani’s second husband Sanjeev Khanna who has also reportedly confessed to his role in the crime.
A fortnight after their arrest and prolonged interrogation, a city court had on September 7 remanded Indrani and driver Rai in judicial custody till September 21, while Khanna was remanded in a14-day police custody a day later.
On September 21, all the three accused were remanded in judicial custody till October 5. All the three accused were have been lodged in different jails.
Indrani and other two arrested accused - Sanjeev and Shyamvar Rai - face the charges of having “kidnapped” 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.
After taking over the investigations in the case on Tuesday last, the CBI registered a case against Indrani and two other accused under eight Sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) relating to the alleged murder of Sheena Bora. The other sections under which the three accused have been booked Section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), Section 201, 202, 203 of IPC (destruction of evidence and giving false information), and Section 2 (25) of the Arms Act.
It may be recalled that under flak from various quarters over the delay in investigation caused by the sudden transfer of Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and news reports about the alleged proximity between Mukherjeas and current police commissioner Javed Ahmed, the Maharashtra Government had on September18 announced its decision to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI formally took over the investigations on September 29.