Financial dispute behind Sheena murder, CBI tells court

Making a sensational claim, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told a court that financial transaction was the motive behind the murder of Sheena Bora, in which her step-father Peter Mukerjea, a former media magnate, and her mother Indrani Mukerjea are among the four accused.

The CBI told the court that Peter has disclosed investments made by him and his wife Indrani in the UK and India but not the source of money. A Mumbai court on Monday extended Peter’s CBI custody till November 26. The probe agency had earlier sought his custody to be extended by 10 more days.

CBI’s counsel additional solicitor general Anil Singh told the court that it wanted to interrogate Peter over financial transactions and the recovery of Sheena’s purse and its contents. However, the court agreed to only three days of extension till November 26.

On November 21, in a sensational chargesheet filed by the CBI, it was revealed that besides the financial dispute, the motive behind her murder could have been her ‘relationship’ with Peter’s son, Rahul Mukerjea.

The CBI had last Thursday arrested Peter and accused him of being involved in a criminal conspiracy with Indrani to murder Sheena Bora.

Peter is also accused of destruction of evidence by removing a phone and other items from Sheena’s purse after she was killed. He also faces charges of misleading his son Rahul by giving him wrong information that Sheena was alive and was in the US.

The investigating agency was also probing allegations that a financial dispute was at the heart of the case, especially a transaction that involved Rs 1,300 crore. The CBI had alleged in court that Indrani and Peter hatched the murder plot in early 2012.

Indrani returned to India on April 23, 2012 while Peter stayed back in the UK and returned on April 26, two days after the murder. On his return, Peter and Indrani maintained that Sheena had moved to the US whenever they were confronted by Rahul, the CBI had said.