Sheena Bora murder case: Mumbai Police claim to have tracked down her ‘father’ Siddharth Das

On August 25, Indrani, the wife of former Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea, was arrested on the charge of murdering Sheena. The other accused arrested in the case are her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and ex-driver Shyam Rai.

“While Indrani has agreed that Sheena is her daughter and not her sister, there are unconfirmed reports about Sheena’s biological father. Das will be approached to ascertain Sheena’s parentage. His DNA samples will be taken and sent for analysis,” a senior police officer said.

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A previous affidavit attributed to Indrani suggests that Indrani’s mother Durga Ranee Bora had adopted Sheena and Indrani’s son Mekhail.

In the affidavit, Indira says she mutually separated from her husband ‘S Das’ and has had no relations with him since 1989. It also states that Sheena and Mekhail, aged 4 and 3 years then, were in her custody.

The Mumbai police believe that at the time of her marriage to Peter in 2002, Indrani ensured that documents related to Sheena and Mekhail were changed so that the narrative of the two being her siblings was maintained.

In another development, police on Saturday recovered a grey suitcase from the garage at Peter’s Worli residence. The suitcase has been sent for forensic tests. Police will investigate if this was one of the two suitcases reportedly purchased before Sheena’s murder. “When Sanjeev told us two suitcases had been bought and kept by Rai in the garage, we searched and found this one,” the officer said.

Investigators claim Sanjeev also told them during interrogation that they had planned to kill both Mekhail and Sheena. “Mekhail was summoned to Mumbai by Indrani to discuss a property that she planned to buy for him. When Mekhail saw Sanjeev at the house, he got suspicious, but Indrani told him Sanjeev was mediating the deal. Mekhail was offered a drink that was spiked but Mekhail got wary of the duo and managed to escape. He then immediately left for Guwahati,” a source said.

Staff at the Dadar shop from where the suitcases were reportedly purchased by Rai have been recorded. “The staffers have corroborated that the suitcases were purchased by Rai in April 2012. We have asked them to try look for a bill,” a source said.

On Sunday afternoon, Indrani, Khanna and Rai were taken to the spot in Pen taluka in Raigad from where the body parts believed to be Sheena’s have been recovered.

The three spent five minutes at the crime scene, reconstructing the alleged disposal of Sheena’s body, before they were taken back, a local said.

Another reason police took the three to the spot along the same route that they allegedly took for recce and for the disposal of the body in April 2012, was to look for witnesses who may remember seeing them.

“The three could have stopped at a petrol pump or hotel or motel or medical shop on the way to Pen. Any witnesses would be of importance,” a senior officer said.

On August 31, police custody of all the three accused comes to an end. Police are expected to seek further custody.