Sheena bumped off to save investor’s funds?

Rahul <g data-gr-id="67">Mukerjea</g> was questioned by Mumbai Police for a second time within 12 hours to unravel the complex web of linkages in the murder case.

The case has now taken a very interesting turn with the emergence of the fact that Sheena was murdered through administration of a lethal injection as a dispute over money had surfaced with her mother Indrani Mukerjea, currently married to Peter. There are reports that media personalities — Suhel Seth and Vir Sanghvi, both closely associated with Peter Mukerjea, may be quizzed in this regard as well.

According to sources close to the murder investigation, Sheena was not killed for honour but because of her claims on mother Indrani Mukerjea’s property.

Reports say Sheena was demanding a share in Indrani’s property so that she could live comfortably with boyfriend Rahul. Indrani, then, allegedly killed Sheena with a lethal injection. Sources have further added that Sheena refused to transfer back money siphoned off by Indrani, to the couple and hence a bitter feud followed leading to the killing.

Earlier, Indrani Mukerjea, Chief Executive Officer of INX Media (which was later named 9X Media), confessed to the police that the 24-year-old victim was her daughter and not sister.

Peter and Indrani had got married in 2002, when she was working as an HR Consultant and Peter was the CEO at Star India Network. It was believed to be <g data-gr-id="88">second</g> marriage for both the individuals. Before entering media, Indrani’s biggest client was Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group for which she was <g data-gr-id="86">responsible </g><g data-gr-id="87"><g data-gr-id="86">to do</g> high-level hiring</g>. Sheena was also an employee of the Reliance Group as well before she mysteriously disappeared, supposedly to the US.

Peter and Indrani founded INX media and INX News in 2007 which was later renamed 9X Media after the couple unceremoniously exited in 2009. They had raised Rs 800 crore to set up a news channel and a music channel with the proposal to launch a general entertainment channel. Mumbai police are all set to probe this too, top cop Rakesh Maria mentioned in a report.

Singapore-based company Temasek invested in the firm and after the global recession, Temasek got the media company audited. It was found out during this audit that Peter and Indrani had siphoned off huge sums of money from the company in the name of various family members, including Peter’s brother Gautam <g data-gr-id="73">Mukerjea</g> who brings out the magazine Planet Goa.

In fact, industry circles are agog with stories that a top Indian business house, with interests in telecom and television sectors, which had invested at least Rs 600 crore with INX Media, could do little to recover the money it lost. Did Indrani seek to “protect” that money at any cost? Even at the cost of Sheena’s life when she refused to part with it?  

Meanwhile, a court in Kolkata on Thursday granted Mumbai Police a five-day transit remand against Sanjeev Khanna, a former husband of Indrani Mukerjea, who is accused of murdering her daughter Sheena. Kolkata businessman Khanna was arrested by Mumbai Police on Wednesday, a day after Indrani was nabbed in Mumbai for the murder of Sheena. Rejecting Khanna’s bail plea, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alipore, granted the Mumbai Police plea for transit remand and directed them to present Khanna before a Mumbai court by September 1. Pressing for Khanna’s bail, his counsel pleaded that he was an established businessman and would not abscond and cooperate with the police in the investigation. The prosecution opposed the bail claiming Khanna was involved in the murder.