Indrani Mukerjea’s condition is improving, say doctors at Mumbai’s Sir JJ Hospital

Doctors said that she is responding to verbal commands, is well oriented and her general condition is improving.

After being in a state of drowsiness for over five days, Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case regained consciousness on Tuesday. Doctors said that she is responding to verbal commands, with her general condition improving.

Indrani Mukerjea

“Her fever has come down and the brain activity is normal. Her blood reports were normal, but her urine report from Hinduja Hospital came positive for high dosage of benzodiazepine” said doctors from Sir JJ Hospital.

The drug, being an antidepressant, is mainly used for the treatment of anxiety and insomnia. CT and MRI scans of Mukerjea had revealed ischemic changes in the brain, which restrict the blood supply to tissues, causing a shortage of oxygen that is needed to keep tissue alive. Doctors had suggested it could be one of the effects of drug overdose.

Indrani was taken to Sir JJ Hospital in October 2015 with overdose of a similar drug, present 10 times the normal level in her blood. She was admitted to the hospital on Friday, under similar circumstances in a state of drowsiness and unable to respond to voice commands.

“Her pupils were constricted which indicated chances of drug overdose. We immediately performed a gastric lavage (procedure to wash out toxic substance from the stomach) and the samples, along with her blood and urine samples were sent to laboratory to ascertain if its indeed a case of drug overdose,” doctors from Sir JJ Hospital had said.