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Peter charged with murder, CBI gets custody

By The Assam Tribune

MUMBAI, Nov 20 - Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, husband of prime accused Indrani Mukerjea in the Sheena Bora murder case, was today charged with murder, a day after his arrest and sent to CBI custody by a local court till Monday.

The CBI, which arrested Peter yesterday in a sensational twist to the case, told the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate that he was involved in conspiracy with his wife Indrani and had played an active role in the murder of his step-daughter Sheena, who was Indrani�s daughter from her first marriage.

The Central probe agency, which was represented by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, also told the Court that Peter was in continuous conversation with Indrani prior, during and after the gruesome murder. Peter was also charged with criminal conspiracy.

The Metropolitan Magistrate also transferred the trial in the case to a sessions court here and directed the three accused � Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai � be produced there on December 3.

The accused, who were arrested in August this year, and have been in judicial custody since then, was also handed over the copy of the charge-sheet, which was filed by the CBI yesterday.

According to sources, the probe agency, to which the case was handed over on September 29 after an apparent turf-war between the ousted Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and Ahmed Javed who replaced him, had questioned Peter for hours before it was decided to place him under arrest yesterday after another round of questioning for allegedly �shielding the accused� and �inconsistencies� in his statements.

Though Peter was earlier interrogated by the Mumbai Police, he had consistently maintained that he was unaware of what happened to Sheena as Indrani had told him that she was abroad.

Sheena was allegedly murdered by her mother Indrani, Khanna and Rai in April 2012. The body of the 24-year-old was dumped in a forest in the neighbouring Raigad district.

Meanwhile, Peter�s son Rahul Mukerjea, who had come to attend the court hearing here today, told reporters that his father�s arrest came as a �shock� to him. �I don�t believe he knew (anything about the murder)... otherwise I wouldn�t be here,� he told reporters.

Rahul, who was earlier seen coming out of the CBI office at around 10.30 am, is said to have been grilled by the probe agency for over 12 hours. The statement of Rahul, who was purportedly in a relationship with Sheena, is being corroborated with the statement given by his father to ascertain the facts of the murder case.

Apart from Rahul and Peter, police have already questioned Vidhie, daughter of Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna besides Siddharth Das, biological father of Sheena and Mikhail Bora earlier. � PTI

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