MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, who is facing trial for the 2012 murder of her daughter Sheena Bora.
Sheena was Indrani’s daughter from her first marriage to Siddhartha Das and was killed in April 2012. The case was initially probed by Mumbai Police but got transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation in September 2015. The central agency has claimed that Indrani hatched a conspiracy with her then-husband husband Peter Mukerjea and other accused, including her driver Shyamvar Rai, to eliminate her daughter as she objected to Sheena’s relationship with Peter’s son Rahul.
Here’s a look at the chronology of events in the case:
April 24, 2012: Former INX Media CEO Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, and driver Shyamwar Rai allegedly strangle Indrani’s daughter from her first marriage, Sheena Bora, in a car. They burn and dump the corpse in a forest in Raigad the following day
May 2012: Sheena’s remains are discovered but due to lapses by the police, the viscera is not sent to the forensic lab for identification
August 2015: Mumbai Police arrest the driver, Rai, for illegal possession of a pistol. During his questioning, he confesses to murdering Sheena.
August 25, 2015: Murder case registered under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping), 201 (tampering with evidence or giving false information to save offender), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention), naming Indrani, Sanjeev Khanna and Rai. Indrani and Khanna are arrested
August–September 2015: Investigations reveal Sheena was in a relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, the son of Peter Mukerjea – Indrani’s then husband and business partner. Police claim Indrani sent letters on behalf of Sheena and forged her signature to prove that she was alive and had moved to the United States to break off her engagement with Rahul.
{{/usCountry}}August–September 2015: Investigations reveal Sheena was in a relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, the son of Peter Mukerjea – Indrani’s then husband and business partner. Police claim Indrani sent letters on behalf of Sheena and forged her signature to prove that she was alive and had moved to the United States to break off her engagement with Rahul.
{{/usCountry}}September 2015: Samples of the body found in the forest in 2012 are sent to the Kalina forensic lab, which confirms the remains to be Sheena’s. Indrani is sent to judicial custody and is lodged at Mumbai’s Byculla women’s jail
October 2015: The case is transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
November 2015: Rai turns approver in the case and records his statement before a magistrate court. Indrani’s husband Peter Mukerjea is arrested, and CBI claims Peter and Indrani had siphoned off nearly ₹900 crores to bank accounts in Singapore
June 20, 2016: A special CBI court grants pardon to Rai and makes him a prosecution witness
January 2017: A special CBI court charges Indrani, Peter and Khanna with murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, destroying evidence and giving false information
February 23, 2017: Prosecution examines the first witness and the trial begins
October 2019: Indrani and Peter divorce
March, 20, 2020: Peter is released on bail
August 17, 2021: CBI closes further investigations in Sheena’s murder
December 2021: Indrani claims Sheena is alive and living in Jammu and Kashmir
May 18, 2022: A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by justice L Nageswara Rao grants Indrani bail on the ground that she had been in custody for more than six years and there was no scope for the trial to end soon, considering the fact that out of 237 witnesses, only 68 witnesses were examined so far.