Peter Mukerjea, Indrani granted divorce by court
A family court on Thursday granted Peter Mukerjea and Indrani divorce based on the petition filed by them in September last year.
“Today, the two were formally divorced after we submitted a compliance of the consent terms. The court accepted it and granted them a divorce,” said Edith Dey, one of the lawyers for the couple, who were married 17 years.
Their divorce comes at a time when both of them face trial for their alleged involvement in the murder of Indrani’s daughter, Sheena Bora, in 2012.
Both have been in judicial custody since their arrest in 2015. The couple signed a consent term and moved a formal plea for divorce by mutual consent on September 18, 2018.
The compliance and transfer of rights of properties took almost a year.
On Thursday, the former couple’s lawyers submitted all documents and details of compliance of each and every term. The documents and records were first verified by a counsellor and later by the judge.
The couple, after they filed their petition, were given six months to reconsider their decision and come back before the court. The two remained firm on their call to end their marriage and informed the court on Thursday. The two appeared at court around 12pm, with Indrani barefoot.
The couple stuck to their original consent terms for all the properties except for a flat in Goa. According to the original terms, one of the flats in Goa, which was owned by Indrani, was to be transferred to Peter. However, it is now changed and the flat would now go to Vidhie, Indrani’s daughter from her marriage with Sanjeev Khanna, who too is an accused.
The other terms of settlement for immovable property include apartments in Marlow Building in Worli (where they got married in November 2002), Bristol and London (both in England) and Marabella (Spain). There is also an office space in Lower Parel. The value of the real estate is not mentioned in the petition.
According to the petition, the couple has agreed to divide their bank accounts and fixed deposits worth ₹53 crore held in Syndicate Bank in India and international accounts in Banco Sabadell Atlantico in Spain and ANZ Bank in Auckland, New Zealand. They have also agreed to divide expensive jewellery and watches kept in various bank lockers.
The differences between the couple occurred soon after Indrani’s arrest in August 2015. Peter has maintained that he had no knowledge about the fact the Sheena was Indrani’s daughter. Three months after Indrani’s arrest, Peter too was arrested by CBI, alleging that he knew about the murder and had played a key role as he was against Sheena’s relationship with his son Rahul Mukerjea.
Peter, in his bail plea filed in April 2016, pleaded that he was kept in the dark by Indrani.
According to his bail application, Indrani hid from Peter various matters, including her relationship with Sheena, and Peter always believed her. “The applicant continued to receive emails from Sheena even after her death. The emails were received from a fake ID of Sheena, which was opened by a Kajal Sharma, at the instance of Indrani. This only shows that it was Indrani’s plan to keep the applicant in the dark and mislead him about Sheena being in the US,” read the application.
It went on to say, “The applicant trusted his wife and believed her when she told him that Sheena was her sister. At that point in time, Sheena had left to pursue another life and the applicant had no reason to not believe Indrani.”