How Indrani, her driver and ex-husband ‘killed’ Sheena

November 24, 2015 07:02 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 02:30 am IST - NEW DELHI

If the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge sheet against Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai is to be believed, the April 24, 2012 murder of Sheena Bora was planned to a T.

On April 23, Indrani reached Mumbai. The charge sheet alleges she had told her personal secretary Kajal Sharma and driver Shyamvar about the visit.

Indrani’s passport details show she reached Mumbai on April 23 morning. The driver picked her up from the airport and dropped her at the Marlow Apartment complex, following which she, along with him, allegedly visited Raigad to decide where to dispose of Sheena’s body.

Along the way, at Indrani’s instance the driver also bought a 20-litre can in Lonawala. On her way back to the apartment, she purchased two big bags allegedly for her daughter and son Mikhail’s bodies.

Security guards deployed at Indrani’s apartment saw her and Shyamvar Rai going out on the day of the murder. Indrani visited a chemist and a wine shop, purchased a bottle each of vodka and whisky, two small bottles of water, six bottles of sedatives and a pair of gloves.

At her instance, the driver opened a water bottle and both the liquor bottles, poured out some and mixed the entire six bottles of sedatives into them.

Indrani and her personal secretary then went to Hotel Hilltop, not far from the apartment. She told the secretary that she had booked a hotel room for a guest from Kolkata, some Mr. (Sanjeev) Khanna.

In the evening, Indrani and the driver reached Bandra and parked the car at the rendezvous, near National College. By then, her former husband Sanjeev also joined her.

Meanwhile, Sheena’s boyfriend and Peter Mukerjea’s son Rahul picked her up from her Mumbai Metro office at 3.36 p.m.

Rahul and she headed to Bandra in an Alto car. They reached Bandra at 6.40 p.m. Rahul left after dropping Sheena near Indrani’s car.

The mother and daughter hugged each other and then, the former offered her the spiked water. Sheena drank some, following which Indrani took her to one Amarsons Sari showroom and after sometime, all four got into the car. Indrani directed Shyamvar to go towards Pali Hill. In the moving car, an intoxicated Sheena started losing consciousness. Indrani asked Shyamvar to pull over.

The CBI charges that the driver then placed his hands on Sheena’s mouth and Sanjeev pulled her by the hair. Sheena tried to fight back, biting Shyamvar’s right thumb that began bleeding. But he held on. The mother grabbed her daughter by the neck and strangled her.

Confirming that Sheena was dead, Sanjeev stepped out of the vehicle and walked away. Indrani then instructed the driver to go to Taj Lands End in Bandra.

On the way, she muttered: “Three BHK flat Sheena ko mil gaya hai” (Sheena has got a 3BHK flat).

After a while, she left the Taj and drove back to the apartment. Sanjeev joined the other two accused at a garden near the Marlow Apartment complex, after which they again went to the flat, parking the vehicle close to the garage. Indrani and Sanjeev stuffed Sheena’s body in a bag and then, he along with Shyamvar carried it to the garage.

Next day at 4 a.m., they brought the bag carrying Sheena’s body back to the car. Indrani and Sanjeev pulled the body out and placed it in an upright sitting position in the back seat. The three then set out to dispose of the body in the Raigad forest.

A Timeline of events:

November 19, 2015: CBI arrests Peter Mukherjea along with filing charge sheets against Indrani, ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai the driver.

October 7, 2015: Indrani discharged from hospital,doctors confirmed drug overdose.

October 2, 2015: Indrani Mukherjea admitted in JJ Hospital after she allegedly overdosed on anti-epileptic pills.

September 19, 2015: Maharashtra announces the handover of the case to CBI.

September 9, 2015: Peter Mukherjea reveals to Khar police that Indrani often abused him.

September 7, 2015: Body of Sheena Bora found in Raigad forest.

September 5, 2015: The police custody extended again till September 7.

September 3, 2015: Indrani Mukherjea confessed her role in the murder.

September 1, 2015: Siddharth Das confessed that he is the biological father of Sheena and Mikhail Bora.

August 31, 2015: Fresh charges filed against Indrani attempting to kill her son. Police custody of the three accussed extended till September 5, 2015.

August 30, 2015: The three arrested were taken to the crime scene in Raigad. The call records were also checked by the police.

August 29, 2015: Maharashtra Police has ordered a probe into why the Raigad Police did not register an Accidental Death Report (ADR) after they found a burnt corpse, suspected to be of Sheena Bora, in 2012.

August 28, 2015: Sanjeev Khanna confessed to his "complicity in the crime." He had earlier said that, Sheena’s body was lying next to him in a car in which they were travelling together in Mumbai on April 24, 2012.

August 27, 2015: Sheena Shyam Rai, Indrani's driver, confessed that he murdered Sheena and disposed of her body, on the direction of his employer Indrani Mukherjea.

August 27, 2015: Sanjeev Khanna, a Kolkata based businessman and ex-husband of Indrani Mukherjea was arrested from Kolkata.

August 26, 2015: Indrani opened up that Sheena was her daughter from a previous marriage and not sister as maintained.

August 21, 2015: Shyamvar Pinturam Rai is arrested following the seizure of a 7.63-bore pistol from him.

May 23, 2012: Police find a decomposed body after villagers at Gagode in Pen tehsil, Maharashtra, complain of foul odour.

April 24, 2012: Sheena Bora takes a leave of absence from work at Mumbai Metro. On the same day she sends a resignation letter to her employer. She is not heard from again. No missing complaint is ever lodged by any family member.

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