Day before 60th birthday, Peter Mukerjea charged with murder

Peter Mukerjea enters his 60th year on Saturday, but the former television executive, who co-founded INX Media in 2007, has no time to celebrate. He has been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy in connection with the murder of step-daughter Sheena Bora in April 2012.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the matter, has invoked several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Mukerjea; among these are Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), both non-bailable sections.

Mukerjea, who was arrested on Thursday, was initially charged with shielding the prime accused (his wife Indrani Mukerjea) and for inconsistencies in his statements.

Charges of murder and criminal conspiracy were subsequently added after the CBI told a court in the city that Mukerjea knew of the plot to murder Bora and was in touch with Indrani on the day of the crime.

The CBI also said in court on Friday that Mukerjea misled his son, Rahul, about Bora's whereabouts, claiming she was in the US and was fine. A conversation between the two on the subject was recorded by Rahul, the investigating agency claimed in court.

The advertising and media sector, of which Mukerjea was a part for over three decades, is shocked at the latest development. No one thought, many said when contacted, that he would be arrested.

Born as Pratim Mukerjea, the former TV honcho who passed out of the Dehradun-based Doon School in 1971, pursued further studies in the UK. He also picked up his first job there, with US food major Heinz. He went on to work at a few more firms, including stints at advertising agencies Ogilvy & Mather and DDB in London and Hong Kong respectively through the eighties and early 1990s.

It was in 1993, when he joined Rupert Murdoch's STAR TV in Hong Kong as sales director (India), that Mukerjea by then going by the first name of Peter, made the transition to media. His ability to network and get business quickly, say ad and media industry sources, ensured he moved up the ranks equally fast. He was given additional charge of STAR's ad sales in the Gulf region in 1996 and subsequently became India CEO of the network in 1999.

It was in 2001 that he met Indrani, then a human resources consultant running her own firm in the city. They were married on November 10, 2002, barely 11 days before Mukerjea's 47th birthday. Mukerjea left STAR in 2007 to set up INX Media along with his wife.

The CBI is expected to probe the role of the couple when setting up INX Media as well as their conduct for the two years they were associated with it. The media entity had three channels - music channel 9XM, general entertainment channel 9X and news channel NewsX -which were all sold to different parties after the exit of the Mukerjeas.

Pratim aka Peter Mukerjea

• Born: November 21, 1956
• Graduated from The Doon School in 1971
• Pursued further studies in the UK
• Worked in firms such as Heinz, DDB and O&M
• Joined STAR in 1993 in Hong Kong; moved to Mumbai subsequently
• Became STAR's India CEO in 1999; quit in 2007; co-founded INX Media the same year
• Exited INX Media in 2009