Sheena Bora murder accused Peter Mukerjea’s first wife, a CBI witness, has claimed that the former media baron had “no morals” and had many women in his life.
“Peter is always fascinated by young women around him. He was fond of late-night parties and had several women in his life. This was the only reason I decided to break my marriage with him,” his former wife, whom CBI has presented as a ‘secret witness’, said.
Special judge H.S. Mahajan, while passing order on Peter’s application seeking the statement of this witness, had directed the CBI to furnish him with a copy while asking the agency to delete a paragraph before giving it to him. The statement by Peter's first wife was accordingly given to the defence counsel.
The court named the secret witness in its order and directed the investigating agency to take care of her safety. The witness also told the CBI that after their divorce, Peter introduced Indrani, prime accused in the sensational murder case, as his girlfriend.
“He told me they were planning to marry. I wished Peter luck and sarcastically told him tum nahin sudharoge (you won’t mend your ways), because I was thinking that he would not marry her and dump her like his previous girlfriends as he had a penchant for young women,” the statement said. Peter married Indrani despite being warned of her reputation in Kolkata, it said.
The witness said Indrani called her to finalise the alimony amount, and asked her to not demand an unreasonable amount. “I got angry and told her to mind her own business,” the witness said.
Peter’s lawyer Mihir Gheewala dismissed the statement as character assassination. “This is a useless piece (of evidence). This shows the desperation of the CBI as they have no concrete material against Peter, and now they have resorted to character assassination,” Mr. Gheewala said. “In criminal law, a bad character cannot be cited as a circumstance,” he added.
The court will now start hearing the bail application of Indrani’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna, filed though his lawyer Sreyansh Mithare. Indrani, Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai are accused of strangulating Sheena, 24, Indrani’s daughter from an earlier relationship, in a car here in April 2012. Her charred body was found in a forest in Raigad district last August.
(With PTI inputs)
