CBI gets nod for lie-detector test on Peter Mukherjea

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday got permission from a city court to conduct a lie-detector test on former media baron Peter Mukherjea as he was "evasive" and "not cooperating" in the probe into his step-daughter Sheena Bora's murder.

CBI sources said the agency moved the application in a CBI special court after its officials could not get appropriate and satisfying answers from him during his grilling.

The sources said that the test is needed to evaluate whether his revelations are true or he is misleading the agency.

Sources said the agency questioned Mukherjea to ascertain whether funds allegedly siphoned off from the media house founded by him and his wife Indrani Mukherjea were parked in an overseas account of Sheena, her daughter from an earlier marriage.

Mukherjea was also asked if the matter resulted in a dispute between Indrani and her daughter.

As per the sources, the agency also confronted Mukherjea with the Income Tax returns filed by him and Indrani to ascertain their various investments in India and abroad.

The agency has been scrutinising bank accounts held jointly by him and Indrani, arrested for killing Sheena.

The source of money in several accounts, including ones in HDFC, Barclays and Kotak Mahindra, is also being probed.

The agency has identified bank accounts of Indrani and Mukherjea and found that Indrani has over a dozen fixed deposits. Interestingly, in one account, Indrani reportedly had made a fixed deposit of Rs.80 lakh and she opened it after the murder of Sheena.

The agency has earlier said the motive behind the murder was monetary gain.

The CBI had arrested Indrani, her second husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyamvar Rai for the murder of Sheena.

Indrani, Khanna, and Rai reportedly killed Sheena and disposed off her body. Sheena was allegedly strangled in a car on April 24, 2012 and her body was burnt and dumped in a forest in Raigad, about 84 km from Mumbai, the next day.