Former media executive Indrani Mukerjea on Friday walked out of Mumbai's Byculla women's prison, over six years after she was arrested for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora. In her first comments to the media, she refused to speak about the case, her sensational claim that her daughter was still alive and said she had "forgiven the people who had hurt her".
"I cannot talk about the case right now. The matter is sub-judice... I think I have seen life from a different lens now. I have met people from all walks of life. It's been a journey. I have learnt to be patient," she said.
"I am so happy," a beaming Indrani Mukerjea, 50, told waiting reporters. "I learnt a lot in jail," she said. "I am going home. I have no plans. Just want to go home," she added.
Asked if she blamed anyone for her imprisonmant, she said, "I have forgiven all the people who have hurt me. That's all."
Indrani Mukerjea stepped out of the jail around 5.30 pm, hugged her lawyer Sana Raees Shaikh, smiled and waved to waiting media. She then stepped into the lawyer's car and drove to her Worli flat.
"My faith in judiciary is restored. All should respect laws of the country. There may be delay, but there is justice," she told reporters outside her house.
"I am very happy. There are no other emotions now. I am feeling very free," she said.
Indrani Mukerjea said she is writing a book. It won't be about her jail time, she added.
"When I came home this evening, I found it decorated," she said.
The former media exec was granted bail in the case on Wednesday.
According to investigators, 24-year-old Sheena Bora was killed sometime in April 2012, but the crime came to light three years later with the arrest of Shyamvar Rai, Indrani Mukerjea's former driver, for illegal possession of weapon on August 21, 2015.
During the interrogation, Rai told the police that he knew of a murder that had taken place in April 2012.
Rai claimed that Indrani Mukerjea, then wife of media baron Peter Mukerjea, had strangled her daughter Sheena Bora in a car with the help of her former husband Sanjeev Khanna.
Four days later, the police arrested Indrani Mukerjea. They also arrested Sanjeev Khanna, her former husband. Indrani Mukerjea maintained that she was being falsely implicated in the case.
Mumbai Police claimed that Sheena Bora, her daughter from an earlier relationship, was killed by Indrani and Khanna in a car which Rai was driving, and the body was buried in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district the next day.
The body had been found in a decomposed state a month after the murder but remained unidentified for three years till Rai's alleged disclosure, the police said.
The case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in September 2015. In November 2015, the CBI arrested Peter Mukerjea for allegedly being part of the conspiracy.
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