Sheena Bora case: Police seize suitcase, recreate crime scene

The sensational Sheena Bora murder case took another turn on Sunday when police seized a suitcase that was purportedly meant for packing the body of her brother, whom Indrani Mukerjea had allegedly planned to kill, even as key accused Sanjeev Khanna and the driver were taken to spot to recreate the crime scene.

Officials were tightlipped about the progress in the probe amid reports that Indrani and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna had been making contradictory claims about who killed her daughter Sheena three years ago.

The new twist in the probe came when Sheena’s brother Mikhail claimed that their mother Indrani had planned to kill him also on April 23, 2012, when she had given him a spiked drink.

The same day Sheena was allegedly killed by Indrani and Khanna in a car with the help of the driver Shyam Rai. The three had carried the body and disposed it in Pen tehsil in Raigad district the next day.

The seizure of the suitcase from residential premises of Indrani and Peter Mukerjea in Mumbai’s Worli area apparently lends credence to Mikhail’s claim about his mother's plan to kill him and pack his body parts but there was no police confirmation of this theory.

Police on Sunday brought Sanjeev Khanna to Khar police station and later took him to forest in Pen tehsil, along with Rai.

Indrani, Khanna and Rai will be produced before a local court tomorrow where the police are likely to seek extension of their police custody.

During sustained interrogation here yesterday, Indrani and Sanjeev had blamed each other for the crime.

Indrani accused Khanna of committing the murder and dragging her into the crime. However, he said he only assisted Indrani as she had promised to help him financially.

Mikhail was also questioned at a hotel in Bandra yesterday.

Mikhail had said that just hours before Indrani and Sanjeev met Sheena on April 24, 2012 and took her for what would be the last drive of her life, Indrani allegedly drugged him but he managed to escape from the spot and averted becoming the second murder victim.

There were reports that Indrani had sought help of a psychiatrist to get Mikhail labelled as a mental patient, but there was no independent confirmation from police so far.

Meanwhile, a village official in Raigad district, who helped the team of Mumbai police locate the spot where Sheena Bora was allegedly buried, today said when he first spotted the body in 2012 it was just a skeleton with no flesh.

"It was all skeleton. There was no flesh. The local government doctor took it for postmortem, after which it was buried," Police Patil Ganesh Dhene of Hetevne village said.

Asked how he came across the skeletal remains, Dhene said, "I had gone to collect mangoes. The body was not in a suitcase. The surrounding area was burnt." Indrani, her driver Shyam Rai and Khanna were interrogated at Khar police station yesterday. During the course of the grilling, they blamed each other for the crime, a police official said.

The blood and hair samples of Indrani and Mikhail Bora have also been collected and sent to the Kalina-based Forensic Science Laboratory. The report is expected in the next couple of days.