In a formal clarification that came five days after Indrani Mukerjea was discharged from the State-run JJ Hospital, Maharashtra’s Special Inspector General of Prisons Bipin Kumar Singh on Saturday clarified that the key accused in the Sheena Bora murder had neither taken ill due to drug overdose nor was there any sabotage or a suicide attempt by her in the Byculla Jail.
Curiously enough, the Special IG Prisons Bipin Kumar Singh — who addressed a Press conference jointly with Maharashtra Principal Secretary (Home) Vijay Satbir Singh and another senior prison official — issued the clarification a day after the CBI requested the Maharashtra government to preserve the samples of stomach wash, urine and blood of Indrani Mukerjea taken during her recent hospitalisation. The CBI, which is investigating the Sheena Bora murder case, also asked the state government across to it the report an inquiry conducted by the prison authorities.
Attributing Indrani’s sudden illness to personal tension and weakness caused by the dip in her blood sugar levels, Bipin Kumar Singh said, “She (Indrani) had not taken excessive drugs nor was there any poisoning. Indrani was under some tension. She suffered from weakness caused by a dip in her sugar levels. That’s why she must have fallen unconscious. She has a history of fainting”.
“The inquiry conducted by us has revealed that there was absolutely no foul play leading to her losing her consciousness nor was there any attempt on her part to commit suicide,” the Special IG (Prisons) said.
“She is perfectly alright now. She is now taking Clopitab tablets for her Chronic Ischimia,” Singh said.
Forty-three-year-old Indrani, who is a key accused in the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, was rushed to the JJ Hospital on October 2, after she fell unconscious at the Byculla women under-trials’ lock-up where she was lodged.
Initially, the JJ Hospital authorities had suspected that her illness was due to drug overdose. However, after two days of confusion over the suspected excessive intake of drugs by Indrani, Dean of JJ Hospital Dr TP lahane confirmed that the forensic report received by the hospital indicated that the drug overdose had not contributed to her sudden illness.
Elaborating on his statement, Special IG (Prisons) said: "There was no drug overdose. She used to take the medicine in front of a prison guard. The inquiry has not thrown up any such evidence that she tried to commit suicide. There is also no evidence of any foul play or sabotage. The inquiry has revealed that she had briefly stopped taking medicines and that she has history of fainting”.
Alluding to the media reports that cocaine was found in Indrani’s urine samples, State Principal Secretary (Home) Vijay Satbir Singh said that the amount of cocaine found in her urine samples was very small.
“The amount of cocaine was negligible, and as she was on anti—depression and anti—anxiety drugs, which could be the reason for presence of cocaine in urine. The level of cocaine in her urine was 35 nano grams per millilitres of blood while the normal level is up to 300 nano grams,” Satbir Singh said.
The Spl IG (Prisons) revealed that Indrani had fainted in the prison on September 8 and she was given by the jail doctors.
“On September 9, a psychiatrist from JJ hospital had diagnosed her. On September 10, she complained of body pain, lack of sleep and restlessness and even then she was treated by jail doctors. Then she was having tablets between September 12 to 26. However, between September 26 and October 2, she was not taking any tablets,” Bipin Kumar Singh said, as he explained the chronology of events.