The intrigue in the Sheena Bora murder refuses to die. Former TV executive Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyam Rai drove the dead Sheena — propped between them in the rear seat — to Pen, 40 km from Mumbaiu, in Raigad district, to bury her. This was apparently done to make it look as if there was a third person in the car and to avoid police checks on the highway.
Mukerjea, police sources add, also impersonated Bora when office started calling to enquire about her prolonged absence and answered Bora's phone, impersonating her, and told them that she was quitting.
Mukerjea had one of her staffers prepare a resignation letter for Bora, stating that she was quitting because she was going abroad, and forge her signature on it, according to The Times of India.
The police have told TOI that 21 emails were exchanged between Mukerjea and her staffer, discussing wether it was looking authentic enough or not, and suggesting improvements. Apparently, the same staffer had forged Bora's signature earlier as well, when Mukerjea got a leave and license agreement cancelled of a flat in Worli, where Bora and her boyfriend lived.
The police have also added that they recovered a similar suitcase from Mukerjea's house, which was to be used to dump her son, Mikhail's body, in case they managed to kill him on the same day. Officials in the investigating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, told PTI that Mukherjea and Khanna had called Mikhail in the last week of April 2012 to Mumbai to settle some family issues and served him a spiked drink.
Leaving him at the hotel, Mukherjea, Khanna and driver Shyam Rai then allegedly murdered Bora on April 24, the officials said, adding that when the trio returned, Mikhail had fled and left Mumbai for Guwahati.
After all this, Mukerjea has accused Khanna of committing the murder and dragging her into the crime. But Khanna has said that he only "assisted" her as she had promised to help him financially.
On Monday, now, a Mumbai magistrate has decided to extend the police custody of all three accused till September 5. But Mukerjea's lawyer has alleged that she was being beaten up in the police custody. Earlier, Mukerjea's counsel had complained to Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria that his officers were resorting to pressure tactics to extract a confession from her.
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