Sheena Bora & Indrani Mukerjea

 Indrani Mukerjea is facing murder charges for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora in April 2012. Her former husbands Peter Mukerjea, Sanjiv Khanna, and driver Shyamvar Rai are also co-accused in the case.

In the early years of her marriage with Peter Mukerjea, Indrani used to claim that Sheena was her sister, not her daughter. Mukerjea has been accused of kidnapping, killing, and burning the corpse of Sheena Bora, in an alleged property dispute and internal familial differences.

Earlier, Indrani Mukerjea had told the court that she had reason to believe that Bora is alive as a policewoman had told her in Byculla prison that she had seen her in Srinagar in 2021 but CBI had refused to believe Indrani’s claim.

Over a decade after Sheena Bora’s murder took place, the prime accused in the case, Indrani Mukerjea, has claimed that Bora is still alive and she was spotted at the Guwahati Airport. Mukerjea, who is Bora’s mother, also submitted an application to the court.

Indrani Mukerjea was born in Guwahati, Assam into a Assamese family to Upendra Kumar Bora and Durga Rani Bora. She was named Pori Bora at birth and spent her childhood in Guwahati. While as per records she is born in the year 1972 however as per Siddhartha Das, former husband of Indrani Mukherjee her real age should be more than 7 years than what is stated in the records. After completing school there, she moved to Shillong to pursue higher education at Lady Keane College. In 1986 she met Siddhartha Das with whom she had a daughter, Sheena, in February 1987 and a son, Mikhail, in September 1988. In 1990 Indrani left the children under the care of her parents in Guwahati and moved to Kolkata. There she studied computers and stayed as a paying guest.A few months after her move to Kolkata, she met Sanjeev Khanna.They got married in 1993 and had a daughter named Vidhie in 1997. In 2001 they moved to Mumbai.

In 2002, Indrani met Peter Mukerjea and moved in with him while awaiting her divorce from Sanjeev Khanna. In November 2002, Indrani married Peter Mukerjea. After this marriage Vidhie Khanna moved in with the Mukerjeas and took the Mukerjea name. In 2005 Indrani introduced her children, Sheena Bora and Mikhail Bora, to Peter as her younger siblings. In 2006 Sheena Bora also moved in with the Mukerjeas. After April 2012, Sheena was not seen again.

Around 2012 Indrani acquired United Kingdom citizenship based on marriage to Peter Mukerjea, himself a United Kingdom citizen.  From 2012 until 2015, the Mukerjeas divided their time between residences in Worli, Mumbai, Bristol, UK and Marbella, Spain.

In 1996 Indrani founded INX Services Private Limited as a recruitment company in Kolkata. In 2001 Indrani moved to Mumbai, where her recruitment firm considered Reliance Industries as her most important client. The firm also handled recruitment for STAR India. In 2005, the firm formed a partnership with Switzerland-based global executive search specialist, IMD International Search Group, which appointed Indrani as its regional director, Asia Pacific.

In December 2006 Peter and Indrani Mukerjea became promoters of the INX Group, which consisted of human resources companies INX Services and INX Executive Search, and media companies INX Media and INX News. Indrani was appointed chairperson of INX Group Peter and Indrani Mukerjea held a 50% stake in INX Media. The other half was held by private equity firms for a total funding of $170 million (₹750 crore according to the exchange rate at the time).

In August 2015, Peter was questioned by Mumbai Police in connection with the alleged murder of Sheena Bora, his step daughter. He submitted a written statement to the police that was prepared in conjunction with his lawyer. He claimed that his passport was evidence that he was in Rome at the time of the murder in April, 2012.

Sheena Bora, an executive working for Mumbai Metro One (Reliance Infrastructure) based in Mumbai, went missing on 24 April 2012. In August 2015, Mumbai Police arrested her mother Indrani Mukerjea, her step-father Peter Mukerjea, and her mother's driver, Shyamvar Pinturam Rai, for allegedly abducting and killing her and subsequently burning her corpse. Peter Mukerjea, Rai, and Indrani's ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna confessed to the crime, while Indrani Mukerjea has said that Sheena Bora is living in the United States.

On 24 April 2012, Sheena took a leave of absence. On the same day, Rahul Mukerjea (Sheena's step-brother who she was dating) received a breakup SMS from Sheena's phone. Her mother, Indrani, said that Sheena had gone to the United States for higher studies and hence a missing First Information Report (FIR) was never filed. Sheena was never seen after 24 April 2012.

On Rahul's insistence, Mumbai Police visited Indrani's Worli residence where they were informed by the staff that Indrani was out of India. Upon her return, Indrani visited the Worli police station and informed the officers that Rahul was trying to stalk Sheena and that was why Sheena had moved to the US without informing him.

Four months before Indrani's arrest, Mumbai Police started surveilling her. The surveillance was initiated after a tip-off. Shyamvar Pinturam Rai, Indrani's driver, was arrested on 21 August 2015 for possession of illegal weapons and it was alleged that, during his interrogation, he revealed details of Sheena's murder. On 26 August 2015, Sheena's brother Mikhail revealed that she was Indrani's daughter rather than a sister.

Quoting the First Information Report filed by Mumbai Police, the Hindustan Times reported that Rai had given a detailed account of the murder to the police. Rai alleged that Indrani had planned it and had discussed it with her ex-husband, Sanjeev Khanna. He alleged that Indrani had surveyed a likely area to dump the body the evening before the murder. On 24 April 2012, Khanna had flown to Mumbai and checked into the Hotel Hilltop at Worli. Rai alleged that Indrani had rented an Opel Corsa to facilitate the abduction of Sheena and for disposal of her body. Indrani, he claimed, had earlier asked Sheena to meet her on the evening of 24 April 2012 and, though reluctant, she had agreed. At about 06:00 PM on 24 April 2012, he went on, Indrani was joined by her ex-husband at his hotel in Worli. An hour later, when Sheena was dropped off by Rahul Mukerjea near National College on Linking Road in Bandra, Indrani, Khanna, and driver Rai were there to meet her. Rai's account continued, alleging that Indrani sat next to him while Sheena was in the rear seat with Khanna. He said they took her to one of the by-lanes in Bandra and Khanna strangled her.

The police claimed that, after the murder, Sheena's body was taken to Indrani's house at Worli where it was put in a bag and stuffed in the trunk of the car.

Rai alleged that Khanna later left for his hotel while Indrani stayed home and Rai slept inside the car with the body in the trunk. In the early hours of 25 April 2012, he said, the three accused drove to the village of Gagode in Pen tehsil, Raigad. Concerned about the possibility of police checks, they propped Sheena's body up between Indrani and Khanna on the rear seat, as if asleep, rather than putting it in the boot.

At 04:00 AM on 25 April 2012, police alleged, they dragged the body out of the car in an isolated spot in the forest, stuffed it back into the bag, poured petrol over it, and set it ablaze. After the body was completely burnt, the accused returned to Mumbai. Khanna left Mumbai later that day.