The Mumbai Police arrested Indrani Mukherjea, former chief executive officer of INX Media Ltd., and her driver for allegedly murdering her sister, Sheena Bora, and dumping the body in Raigad district, near here, three years ago.
Sources said the murder was the outcome of a property dispute between the sisters. It is learnt that the police received a tip-off about the driver Shyam Rai’s role and detained him for questioning.
“During questioning Shyam confessed to have murdered Sheena on the directions of his employer,” a source said.
Police spokesperson and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni confirmed the arrests on charges of murder and destroying evidence.
“Yes, we have registered a case under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) under the Indian Penal Code. We have their custody till August 31,” said Mr. Kulkarni.
Indrani is the wife of Peter Mukherjea, who was earlier the CEO of Star TV. “I am shocked, I don’t know what to say,” Mr. Mukherjea reacted to the news of the arrest of his wife and business partner when The Hindu contacted him. The couple who divide their time between Mumbai and London had returned to India only few days ago. “The police just came in the morning and arrested her and took her to the Khar police station. All of this so suddenly. I just don’t know what to say. I hope this gets sorted out,” he said.
The couple were the promoters of INX Media Pvt Ltd., which started the News X channel, and had stepped down from management positions in 2009-10. Three channels were launched as part of INX Media — News X, entertainment channel 9 X and music channel 9XM. The management changed hands when News X was purchased by Nai Dunia promoter Vinay Chajlani and former BusinessWorld editor Jehangir S. Pochaa.
