Indian police are surrounded by media as they escort Indrani Mukherjea from a city court in Mumbai.
By Updesh Kapur/Doha
It’s a story that has gripped India – murder, mystery, suspense.
Add to it money and jealousy, one can see all the hallmarks of a crime novel, a movie and TV documentary in the making.
Not since the horrific fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi three years ago has India been so absorbed by an incident.
A disjointed family sucked into a media spectacle being at the forefront of the news agenda for the past week.
The number of characters in this saga continues to grow. And the media is playing its part in a big way ensuring every development is reported as “Breaking News”.
A former media executive married to a retired TV tycoon is at the centre of this drama of all dramas that is unfolding with so many twists and turns by the day.
The story revolves round thrice-married Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora in April 2012.
Arrested on August 24 at her luxury home in Mumbai, Mukerjea is alleged to have murdered Sheena, her daughter from an earlier relationship, with the help of ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and former driver Shyam Rai.
Police documents state that, according to investigators, Sheena was strangled in a rented car, then kept in a suitcase at the Mukerjea residence overnight before the corpse was dumped and set on fire in a forested area in Raigad 100km from Mumbai. The motive is reported to have been a financial dispute.
Denying the charges, Mukerjea told police that her daughter was not dead, but living in the US and was refusing to come forward to reveal her identity because of Sheena’s hatred for her.
At the time of the incident, Mukerjea is said to have told family and friends that 25-year-old Sheena was in fact her sister, not daughter, and had decided to move to the US.
Remains of a body were recovered a month after Sheena’s disappearance but district police decided to bury them as they were unclaimed and the case was deemed unsolved.
The lapse in the case surfaced a few months ago following an anonymous call to police claiming Sheena was not in the US and had in fact been murdered three years earlier by a family member that resulted in an investigation into Indrani Mukerjea.
Mukerjea, married since 2002 to media executive Peter Mukerjea, former CEO of the Star India TV entertainment network, co-founded broadcasting group INX Media with her husband five years later but quit the company after just two years amid reports of financial irregularities.
Sheena and her younger brother Mikhael are said to have been brought up by Indrani Mukerjea’s parents in northeast India.
But complications arose when Sheena returned to Mumbai to live with her mother – and then fell in love with her step-brother Rahul, Peter Mukerjea’s son.
It’s now alleged that a financial dispute between mother and daughter over a stake in INX is the reason behind the killing.
It’s also now emerged that the man said to be her first husband was in fact a live-in lover who fathered both Indrani’s children. Police have accused Indrani of also trying to murder her son Mikhael by summoning him home and drugging him before he managed to escape.
There are a lot of loose ends that need to be pieced together. Why is information coming out three years after the disappearance of Sheena that should easily have been reported at the time of her going missing.
Sheena’s passport was recovered by fiance Rahul Mukerjea soon after her disappearance which wasn’t probed when she was said to have already flown to the US.
The real motive behind the killing still remains a mystery. Information coming out of this case continues to captivate those following it.
The three co-accused have undergone more than 100 hours of interrogation.
The case of Sheena Bora’s last day has been re-enacted with all three accused taken to the site of the buried remains on the fringes of Mumbai. The remains have been dug up and taken for DNA forensic tests.
They say one is innocent until proven guilty. But what has been played out across print and TV networks in India has already spelled out a guilty verdict against the main accused and her accomplices. This case has been reported from all angles with Indian media continuing to pry for more.
Quoting source after source, lurid details are being leaked and at times openly revealed by the very people supposed to uphold the law – the police.
Mumbai’s police force has been tasked with putting together the pieces of this jigsaw having been failed miserably by their colleagues in the town of the crime scene three years earlier. Raigad police themselves are being investigated for negligence.
Mumbai’s guardians of law and order are looking to wrap up this case quickly to restore some level of public confidence in the authorities that are often accused of lacking integrity and effectiveness. Mumbai’s police need to be at the top of their game.
This case further begs the question how can the Indian legal system permit reporting full of speculation and innuendo. The Indian penal system, based on the British legal system, has a huge role to play to ensure fair, balanced and accurate reporting to ensure an unprejudiced trial.
It is blatantly clear that those responsible for material coming out of this case that has so far led to no official charges, are the police.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, who is supervising the investigation, is now said to have warned his officers not to divulge any information to the media as it would obstruct the course of justice.
“It’s a very sensitive case and any misinformation appearing in the print or electronic media will lead to acquittal of the accused,” he is reported to have told his officers.
“Once a few things are clear, I will speak to the media, but if anything is revealed earlier, I will see to it that departmental action is taken against those responsible.”
Maria is incensed that the media has taken such a pro-active stance, more so than his officers.
Earlier this week, TV crews managed to trace and interview Siddhartha Das in Kolkata, the man claiming to be Sheena Bora and Mikhael’s biological father. The police had failed to find him. The media also managed to speak to Mikhael well before the police questioned him.
With police custody of the three accused extended until September 3, this is a case that will for sure have more sordid revelations over the next few days.
The Indian media, at least, will not leave any stone unturned to get the story and breaking news that they are so renowned for.
And the race will be on for the first to come out with a movie and book centred on this real-life gripping crime drama.
♦ Updesh Kapur is a PR & communications professional, columnist, aviation, hospitality, travel analyst, and writer on sports and Bollywood. He can be followed on twitter @updeshkapur
