A prominent Indian TV executive,
Indrani Mukerjea was arrested on Wednesday August 26 in Mumbai and accused of
murdering Sheena Bora, her daughter from an earlier marriage. Mukerjea, who is
the wife of Peter Mukerjea, the former CEO of Star India, is accused of
ordering her driver to kill Bora and of disposing of the body three years ago.
Mukerjea and the driver were charged with kidnapping, murder and destroying the
evidence.
According to Indian media, before to
her death in 2012, Bora was dating Rahul, one of Peter Mukerjea's sons from his
previous marriage, but that Peter Mukerjea did not know that Bora was his
wife's child.
Rahul met with the police on
Wednesday evening to give their statements. The police claims that Ms Bora was
last seen alive in a car with her mother, along with her driver and former
husband Sanjeev Khanna who was also arrested in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Sources in the Mumbai Police say
that Ms Bora was first strangled and that her body was kept overnight in a car
parked in Peter Mukerjea's garage. The next day the body was allegedly taken to
a forest in Raigad on the outskirts of Mumbai where it was allegedly set on
fire. Police sources say that the body was then recovered and dispensed of, and
claims that it is Ms Mukerjea's driver who has helped establish that the corpse
was Ms Bora's.
Ms Mukerjea's son Mikhail Bora told
reporters that he believes his mother is guilty and will divulge her motive if
she does not confess the truth soon. Peter and Indrani Mukerjea married in 2002
when he was head of the News Corp.-backed company and she worked in its human
resources department.
While Bora's relationship may have
been a cause for anxiety, media reports suggest the motive was more likely
financial. After leaving Star in 2007, Indrani established INX and Peter
managed its two specialty TV channels, 9X and Bollywood music channel 9XM. The
Mukerjeas exited the company in 2009 with the news channel bought by Zee and
the renamed rump acquired by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek.
Indian media, supposedly quoting
police sources, say that a Temasek audit of the company found that large sums
of money had been extracted by the former owners and disbursed into the
accounts of close relatives. A dispute over control of the money placed in
Sheena Bora's accounts may have led to arguments with Indrani Mukerjea and
Bora's death.
Source:
Emirates24/7
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