CBI raids 10 places to crack Sheena case

NATIONWIDE SEARCHES Residences of three accused on radar, a team also questions Mikhail Bora in Guwahati

BHOPAL/KOLKATA: CBI teams on Monday conducted nationwide raids at 10 places to crack the Sheena Bora murder mystery, more than three years after she was allegedly killed by her mother, former media tycoon Indrani Mukerjea.

Officers of the CBI, which recently took over the probe from Mumbai police, searched the Kolkata homes of Sanjeev Khanna, Indrani’s former husband, and Sujit Mohan Sarkar, a bodyguard employed earlier by Peter Mukerjea.

The residence of Indrani’s former driver and co-accused, Shyamvar Rai, was searched at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district. Officers questioned Rai’s family members, including his mother and brothers, and examined property and bank documents. “This is a part of a nationwide raid. Our officers are searching for evidence,” a CBI officer said.

INX media co-founder Indrani is accused of murdering her 25-year-old daughter on April 24, 2012, with the help of former husband Khanna and driver Rai.

Rai’s arrest on an informer’s tip-off had exposed the murder — allegedly strangled inside a cab in a Mumbai alley and the body buried in a Raigad forest after being burnt. The driver’s home in Mumbai was also searched. Rai is in custody along with Indrani and Khanna. Their judicial custody has been extended till October 31.

In Guwahati, a CBI team quizzed Indrani’s son Mikhail Bora at her paternal home where he lives with his grandfather. “I will fully cooperate with the CBI… The team had not interrogated me. They needed some information from me,” he said.

Teams also swooped down on the residences of Indrani and Peter in Mumbai and Goa.

A PTI report said the CBI was looking for specific corroborative material that cannot be revealed at this stage on the basis of inputs received during the questioning of Indrani, Peter, Khanna and Rai.

The agency has been tasked to unravel the motive as one conspiracy theory suggested Sheena was killed for money while another pointed to her livein affair with Peter’s son from his previous marriage, Rahul.

Mumbai police had exhumed remains of a body from Raigad forest and later said digital superimposition of Sheena’s profile matched with the recovered skull.

(With inputs from HTC Guwahati)