Sheena Bora was allegedly murdered by her mother Indrani Mukerjea
Indrani Mukerjea, who has been arrested for her daughter Sheena Bora's murder in 2012, used her phone for a year and sent texts and mails to give the impression that she was alive, the police have found.
After an eight-hour interrogation on Thursday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria confirmed that Indrani Mukherjee, the media executive married to TV tycoon Peter Mukerjea, impersonated her daughter to make it appear that she was alive and living in the US.
The text that Sheena's boyfriend and step-brother Rahul Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea's son from an earlier marriage, received asking for a break-up, was also sent by Indrani, the police say. Rahul told the police yesterday that he received the text two days after Sheena disappeared, in April, 2012. Indrani allegedly told the police then that Rahul was stalking her and Sheena went to the US to escape him.
Indrani allegedly did not stop at that. She also ended a tenancy agreement and sent a resignation letter on Sheena's behalf.
Speaking to reporters outside the police station in Mumbai where Indrani was interrogated in detail yesterday, Mr. Maria said, "The resignation letter and the letter to landlord. The lady accused sent letter to a person to sign it. That person forged Sheena's signature on those letters and sent it."
Sheena was strangled on April 24, 2012, allegedly by Indrani's ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, with Indrani and her driver Shyam Rai also in the car. All mails sent from Sheena's phone after that were aimed at projecting that Sheena had left for the US and was not interested in returning to India.
A photo posted on Facebook by Indrani Mukerjea on one of Sheena's birthdays, after her death, showed her holidaying in Goa. The police hold it up as evidence of lack of remorse.
Indrani's interrogation is likely to continue over the next few days. Sanjeev Khanna, who has been brought to Mumbai from Kolkata, is likely to be confronted with the other accused.