Almost a year after allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, Indrani Mukerjea wanted her husband Peter to believe that she was neither mother nor sister of Sheena and that the 24-year-old victim was very much alive.
This is stated in an e-mail sent by Indrani from Sheena’s account to Peter Mukerjea, who was arrested last week in connection with the murder, as per the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case.
According to the chargesheet filed by CBI on Thursday, investigation agency sources said the mail was one of the many e-mails that Indrani had sent to people in her bid to make them believe that Sheena was alive.
“It may all sound very bizarre to you but this and only this is the real truth. Indrani is neither my sister nor my mother but just a good Samaritan who arrived in our lives a few years ago,” the mail, sent to Peter on March 14, 2013, read.
Though Indrani’s lawyer Gunjan Mangla could not be contacted, her former husband and accused Sanjeev Khanna’s lawyer Shreyansh Mithare said he is yet to see the chargesheet.
“I am yet to go through the chargesheet. Hence, I don’t want to comment,” Mithare told PTI.
Peter’s lawyer Niranjan Mundergi also said he has not seen the particular mail, hence, cannot comment.
The e-mail, purportedly sent from Sheena’s account, says that her grandparents had a daughter, whose name was also Indrani. “My grandparents had a daughter and an only child Indrani Bora (your wife’s namesake), who was my mother,” the mail read.
It said that her mother (Indrani Bora) had Sheena and Mikhail from a man she had eloped with as the family totally disapproved the relationship.
“After struggling for couple of years on their own and finding it impossible to make ends meet, they (Indrani Bora and her husband) decided to return home when my mother was pregnant with Mikhail,” the mail said.
According to the e-mail, as Sheena’s father belonged to a lower caste and did not come from a financially sound family, the relationship was unacceptable to her grandparents and they were ashamed to acknowledge him.
After she (Indrani Bora) returned, she was ill-treated at the house and unable to bear it, she left the home, the email further read.
The mail also said that in 1991 when there was a major civil unrest in Assam and numerous kidnappings were taking place, Sheena’s uncle had brought a young girl home in an unconscious and injured state.
“I was so young that time that I never understood it and did not know who she was and where she came from,” the mail read.
It further read that while the girl’s face was battered, Sheena thought her face did resemble the photograph of her mother (Indrani Bora), but was much younger. “The girl who was brought was taken away and was never to be seen again,” it said.
“Your wife Indrani was the girl who was brought to our home in that unconscious state,” the mail written to Peter, said.
The mail also said that the child (girl who was brought) was briefed with the complete details of Indrani Bora and a new identity of hers’ was prepared in 1991 under that name.
“If you have access to her birth certificate you will see that it was made in that year though it should have been made many years ago,” the mail said.
The mail said that the girl started to embrace the identity of Indrani Bora.
“She (Indrani) met Sanjeev Khanna (her former husband) through the family she was living with and they got married in next couple of years. When his (Sanjeev’s) family contacted my (grand) parents, they said that they had nothing to do with their daughter as she had left home after a fight and it was shameful for a girl to do but she was not their daughter,” said the mail.
The mail also said when Sheena approached Khanna for information but he warned her to stay away from Indrani and Vidhie (Indrani’s daughter with Sanjeev Khanna).
Image: Indrani Mukerjea after being produced by the CBI at the Esplanade court in Mumbai on Friday. Photograph: Shashank Parade/PTI
