Sheena Bora Murder: Will Fake Emails to Peter Help Him Get a Clean Chit?

Mumbai: After days of intense questioning, the police are likely to give a clean chit to Indrani's husband, Peter Mukerjea, in the Sheena Bora murder case. Indrani's son, Mikhail Bora, may also get a clean chit.

The factor that is precipitating the likely all-clear for Peter and Mikhail is Indrani's alleged use of a fake email address set up in Sheena's name to send mails to the duo, as well as her daughter Vidhie.

The police say that the mails, which were sent by Indrani when she went abroad, had led Peter and Mikhail to believe that Sheena was in the United States and was doing well. They, thus, did not suspect that anything had happened to her.

Yesterday also saw big wins coming for the Mumbai police, with the digital facial superimposition returning positive, indicating that the skull found from Raigad matches Sheena Bora's face as per the photographs available.

The bones have also been established to belong to a female in the 20-25 age bracket (Sheena was 24 when she was murdered) and with a height of 154-160 cm, which also matches Sheena's height.

It has also been established that the remains that were found were from a murder between two to five years ago, which fits the timeline of Sheena's murder, which took place in 2012. All these, the police say, will serve as crucial evidence and go a long way in helping them prove the case in court.

Emails

The police said that after the murder of Sheena Bora, Indrani had allegedly asked an employee to make a fake email id in Sheena's name on Hotmail.com. "Whenever Indrani would travel abroad, she would take the password and email id from the employee and send emails to Peter and others posing as Sheena.

She sent the emails only from other countries as a precaution so that if someone looked up the IP (internet protocol) address, it would not be from India. She sent two emails to Mikhail, two to Vidhie and two to Peter. The emails said that Sheena was very happy in the US and was doing very well," said the police officer.

This ensured that Peter or Mikhail never felt suspicious. The cops said that they have recovered the emails and the IP addresses from which they were sent are from foreign countries. Cops said that it is, thus, clear that Mikhail and Peter were not part of the conspiracy and nor did they know anything about it.

Police sources said that they are, hence, planning to give the duo clean chits. Mikhail also used to get Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 from Indrani every month and was dependent on her. Peter, who may have had some scope for doubt after he was told by Indrani that Sheena had suddenly left for the US, never felt the need to have them later because he got the mails, which he thought were from Sheena, claimed the cops.

Indrani never, however, sent the emails to Rahul Mukerjea - Peter Mukerjea's son and Sheena's boyfriend - as she had already messaged him from Sheena's phone after the murder, stating that Sheena did not want to stay in touch with him anymore. The employee, whose statement has been recorded, will be a key witness and make their case strong, said a police official.

Wins for cops

The Mumbai Police said they have enough evidence against the three accused, Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai. The police said they have received positive reports of bones that they had sent to B Y L Nair Hospital in Agripada.

The digital facial superimposition has come back positive and the skull found from Raigad matches Sheena Bora's face. This, police officials say, is a big breakthrough in the case and will help them prove the crime against the accused.

The age of the bones which were recovered, according to the hospital, is between 20 to 25 years and belong to a female with a height of 154-160 cm. These match Sheena's age and height and will also help in proving the case.

"We have also got confirmation that the murder had taken place between two to five years back," said an officer, who requested anonymity. The cops said they had sent the bones to the forensic science department of the Nair Hospital, from where they got the confirmations.

Though the police are still waiting for the DNA test report, which will be more important, but these reports will also help with the case, said a police officer.