Photo posted on Facebook last year by Indrani Mukerjea on February 11, Sheena Bora's birthday
On February 11, 2014, the day Sheena Bora would have turned 26, her mother Indrani Mukerjea posted on Facebook a picture from Goa, which got several likes and comments. No one knew then that Sheena had been murdered two years ago, and that Indrani would come to be accused of the crime.
The Facebook post is among the many instances that have shown baffling lack of remorse and cold-blooded planning, say the Mumbai police, who are investigating how the young woman was killed by the trio of her mother, a prominent media executive married to TV tycoon Peter Mukerjea, step-father and a driver on April 24, 2012.
After interrogating Indrani Mukerjea and her driver for hours on Thursday, the police said the alleged killers had recced the spot where they would dump Sheena's body a day before. This, say police sources, indicates meticulous planning.
On the day she died, Sheena received a phone call from Indrani, asking to meet her at Bandra in Mumbai. Sheena's boyfriend and step-brother Rahul, Peter Mukerjea's son from an earlier marriage, drove her to the spot and left.
Indrani allegedly dragged a reluctant Sheena into the car when she refused to get in, on spotting Sanjeev Khanna, her mother's ex-husband. The police say Sheena was sedated and then strangled by Sanjeev Khanna.
The three allegedly kept the body in a suitcase in the car, overnight, in the garage at Peter Mukherjea's home in Mumbai. The next morning, they allegedly drove with the body to a forest area in Raigad, 84 km from Mumbai.
Sheena's face was smashed and the body was burnt in the suitcase before being thrown down a slope.
The police claim that Indrani then forged documents and used Sheena's phone for a year to keep up the charade that she was alive and in the US.
Mumbai police chief Rakesh Maria said Indrani had someone forge a resignation letter to Sheena's office and a letter to her landlord.
She allegedly also sent texts from Sheena's phone, including one to Rahul Mukerjea, saying it was all over. Rahul told the police that he was asked by Indrani to "stop stalking Sheena."
Indrani's arrest on Tuesday exposed another big lie; Sheena, introduced by Indrani to everyone as her sister, was actually her daughter.