Who was sheena?

It seems that a lot has been washed away with the death of Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora. Yet the details that we have about her today are enough to throw light on Sheena’s personality.

Born on February 28, 1989, (according to her brother Mikhail), Sheena’s parents are Indrani and Siddharth Das. In 1990, Indrani left Sheena and Mikhail with their grandparents in Guwahati. Raised by her grandparents, Sheena used to study in Disneyland School in the city, where her teachers remember her as a quiet and bright student. Sheena had counted friends and she often told them about her parents. 

In 2002, Sheena, then 14, broke down in front of her class as the newspaper carried her mother’s picture of getting married to media honcho Peter Mukerjea. After marrying the STAR CEO, Indrani had reportedly returned to Guwahati. After Sheena’s secondary exams, Indrani reconciled with her and sent her off on a vacation around the world.

Sheena’s grief was not much about her mother’s re-marriage, but more because of the fact that she had another daughter named <g data-gr-id="81">Vidhie</g>. Sheena often told her friends about how badly she missed her mother. <g data-gr-id="82">Vidhie</g> was Indrani’s daughter with Sanjeev Khanna, her second husband. After her marriage with Khanna failed, Indrani had fought for <g data-gr-id="83">Vidhie’s</g> custody, and later, Peter adopted her. 

Mumbai: Life takes a twist 

In 2006, Sheena shifted to Mumbai, while her brother stayed back in Guwahati. Sheena joined St Xavier’s College to study economics and graduated in 2009. Initially, Sheena used to live as a paying <g data-gr-id="99">guest,</g> but later moved in with Indrani and Peter in their Worli Seaface apartment. The twist in the tale kicked off from here as Indrani had as introduced Sheena to Peter as her sister. Sheena was also introduced to Peter’s son from his earlier marriage, Rahul, as Indrani’s sister. The two fell in love. Sheena’s close friend said: “Sheena and Rahul were in love and she told us that she intended to marry Rahul, possibly by November 2012.” However, this irked Indrani as she believed it could affect her marriage with Peter. Sheena’s friend said she and Rahul used to live together in Mumbai. 

According to another source, Rahul wanted to marry Sheena and was worried when Sheena went missing in March 2012. Initially, he wanted to file a police <g data-gr-id="98">case,</g> but later seemed to give up as there was no news on her.

A close friend of Sheena had visited her grandparent’s house in Guwahati after she went missing and was told that Sheena was off to the US for studies. Interestingly, Peter too was told that Sheena was sent off to the US as Indrani did not approve of her relationship with Rahul. Sheena had applied for leave from April 24, 2012, the day she was murdered. On May 6, her company received her resignation letter through an email.

Not ruling out the possibility of Sheena’s relationship with Rahul being the reason that might have made Indrani get her murdered, the police have also come up with another angle. Sources said Indrani had entrusted a huge amount of money with Sheena, which the former wanted back. However, Sheena was reluctant to return the money to her mother as she wanted to use it for leading a life with Rahul, a sound engineer.

Indrani has reportedly confessed to the police that she and her driver Shyam Rai, along with her ex-husband Sanjeev <g data-gr-id="88">Khanna,</g> had picked up Sheena from near National College in Mumbai’s Bandra. Sheena was then strangulated; her body cut into pieces and set on fire. The half burnt body was stuffed in a bag was disposed off at Pen in Raigad.

The entire incident came to light when Rai, who used to frequent the forest area where the body of 24-year-old Sheena was buried, was arrested. A major revelation also emerged that she was given some lethal injection in the car, before being murdered.

A question that crops up at this point is the presence of Khanna at the scene of <g data-gr-id="80">crime</g>. Khanna has said: “I was in the car when Sheena Bora was kidnapped, but later dozed off.” Khanna’s presence in the car has raised eyeballs. Sheena was neither his <g data-gr-id="78">daughter,</g> nor was he, apparently, in touch with Indrani.

Public prosecutor <g data-gr-id="75">Ghaushal</g> said Khanna did not confess to committing Sheena’s murder. Then why was he present in the car? Even if he had ‘dozed off’, did he not get <g data-gr-id="76">heed</g> of the turnout of events, which led to the gruesome murder of Sheena Bora, who her friends say was a “happy and positive” person.

Peter had <g data-gr-id="93">little</g> scope of knowing the entire truth as he was introduced to Indrani, accompanied by ad guru Alyque Padamsee, in a small party thrown by Suhel Seth. Seth met Indrani for the first time in that party. Peter said: “Whom I thought was her (Indrani) brother (Mikhail) is now her son from an earlier marriage, which I was not aware of. I was aware of one marriage and not so many others.”