DNA test confirms skeletal remains belong to Sheena

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bandra remanded key accused Indrani Mukerjea  and her driver Shyamvar Rai to judicial custody till September 21, while another accused Sanjeev Khanna was taken to Kolkata where he will be produced in court on Tuesday. Both Indrani and Shyamvar were then taken to Arthur Road prison in Byculla.

A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said DNA samples of the skeletal remains matched with those of Indrani and Mikhail, considered to be crucial evidence in solving the murder mystery. The three accused have been arrested on charges of killing Sheena and disposing of the body in a Raigad forest in April 2012.

Last week, the police had claimed that Indrani had confessed her crime and they were investigating further if someone else could have been involved in the murder. Sheena was allegedly strangulated in a car, and her body was burnt and dumped at a forest in Raigad, about 84 km from Mumbai.

Police had last week exhumed remains of her body from Raigad forest and claimed that digital superimposition of Sheena’s profile had matched with the skull recovered from the forest.

While seeking custody of all the three accused for another two days, the prosecution had on Saturday held that though the probe had progressed well it was yet to cover a large area and that Indrani remains “uncooperative and a hard nut to crack”. 

The prosecution also held that the accused took the help of Internet to plan the murder and impersonated the victim by creating a fake email ID. Police had also extensively interrogated Indrani’s husband and media baron Peter Mukerjea for three <g data-gr-id="54">days,</g> though he is not an accused in the case.

Sheena’s brother Mikhail and Peter’s son Rahul and <g data-gr-id="40">Vidhie</g>, daughter of Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna, were also questioned apart from Siddharth Das, alleged biological father of Sheena and Mikhail.

 Indrani was taken to her residence in Worli on Sunday, apparently to connect a few “remaining dots” in the murder mystery while Sanjeev, Indrani’s former husband, and Shyamvar (former driver of Indrani) – were grilled at Khar police station.

During the investigation, the police have also found that 21 emails were exchanged between Indrani Mukerjea and her staffer who allegedly forged Sheena’s signature after the murder at Indrani’s behest.

Sources claimed Indrani had visited Kolkata a couple of times since 2012. She stayed away from the public eye and avoided the 75th birthday of Sanjeev’s mother in February last year for which <g data-gr-id="41">Vidhie</g> had visited the family in Hastings. Indrani was seen in Kolkata again sometime in the winter of late 2014 or early 2015, said the sources. 

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