CBI charges Peter Mukerjea with murder in Sheena Bora case

The CBI on Tuesday charged media mogul Peter Mukerjea with murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence in the Sheena Bora murder case, reports The Telegraph. Mukerjea is the husband of Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the case.

The charges were made in a supplementary chargesheet three months after his arrest and filed in a Mumbai court. "Peter actively participated in the conspiracy, whether he was in India or abroad," the CBI said.

According to the CBI, 60-year-old Peter also "misled" his son Rahul, who was in a relationship with Sheena, when he told Rahul that he did not know where Sheena was after she disappeared in April 2012.

In August 2015, when Indrani Mukerjea, mother of Sheena Bora, was arrested as a suspect in Sheena's murder, Peter had said he had no idea Sheena was Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship. He had also she he did not know she had been murdered.

The CBI counsel said in court on Tuesday that the agency was still probing the allegations that senior Mumbai policemen had helped conceal the murder till the arrest of Shyamvar Rai, Peter's driver, in August. The CBI was given the investigation after claims that Peter had ties with Mumbai police officers.

On 20 November last year, the CBI had filed a 1,000-page chargesheet naming Indrani as the prime accused in the murder of her 24-year-old-daughter Sheena, and also charging Indrani's ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Rai with murder.

Peter Mukerjea was jailed three months ago. Four days ago, his plea for bail was rejected when the CBI said it would soon file a chargesheet against him. The agency also said that as a British national, Peter might leave India.