Indrani, the main accused in the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, one of the biggest crime mysteries of India, in the ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash, said that she knew there was “foul play" in the case and that she was still “searching for Sheena".
Indrani was granted bail in the case in May 2022, after spending six years in jail. In August 2015, Mumbai Police had arrested Indrani, her then husband and former media executive Peter Mukerjea, Indrani’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, and driver Shyamvar Rai for allegedly abducting and killing Sheena and subsequently burning her corpse. The case came to light three years after the crime was committed, following the arrest of Rai in another case which led to the arrest of Indrani and Khanna. Indrani’s memoir, ‘Unbroken: the Untold Story’, released in July this year.
When asked if Sheena was alive, why was she not making an attempt to get in touch with her, Indrani said, “That is one question I honestly don’t have an answer to…One thing is established that Sheena was alive well after the alleged date of her disappearance…I am searching for her. I do not believe that I have lost her. I hope she is alive, fine and safe. I want her to know that she will be safe and protected if there is any constraint that is stopping her…I am doing my own search after reports of Sheena being spotted. I will not give up the search."
On her ex-husband Peter Mukerjea’s revelation that Sheena Bora told him that she was Indrani’s biological daughter, Indrani said, “He said that much later. I have seen interviews where he said, “I didn’t know. I was shocked to find out that she was Indrani’s daughter." There is a full conversation on tape, where there is Peter, Rahul [Peter’s son and Sheena’s alleged lover] and we are referring to Sheena as my daughter. Nobody was shocked."
ON EQUATION WITH SHEENA BORA
“Sheena stayed with me for three years. While I was very busy, we spent time with each other…Several messages between us sent to Rahul have come on record where she says I am in a very good space with my mother, so please do not interfere with that relationship with my mother," she said.
“If I had stayed in Guwahati, I would have killed myself. At 17, when I was undergoing abuse, the question of whether I put myself before my kids is debatable… Maybe I should have brought Sheena and Mikhail with me… Maybe I should have stayed back…But I couldn’t deal with the abuse anymore. Also, to take care of my children, I needed to be financially and emotionally stable…I studied. I took care of my children…But my father kept returning…I realized that I was not the regular girl next-door. I had a strength I recognized. Only if I got out, I could have helped my kids," she said.
ON FORENSIC EVIDENCE
“Talking about skulls and bones have become a part of my life. The essential thing is to find out whether that body really belonged to Sheena. I needed to know if she was alive…There were two bodies…In May 2012, which they state in 2015, in a remote part of Maharashtra, a body was found. A post-mortem report was prepared by Dr Sanjay Thakur. As per that report, there was no brain matter. The defence asked him how he had checked that. He said, “I had used a saw to make a circular cut on the skull, removed the skull cap and saw there was no brain matter." There was no DNA test done on that body. Their claim was the skeleton was of the body which was found in 2012. But the skull presented was intact. It was confirmed by AIIMS and Nair hospital experts. How does a skull that has been cut open with a saw become intact years later," she said.
“I knew there was foul play. There was no doubt about that. It gave me reasons to believe. There were Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories (DFSL) messages retrieved from Rahul’s phone…Even after the date of alleged disappearance, there were continuous messages exchanged between Sheena and Rahul. The messages were intimate about “picking up or ordering for food, or ppyou come downstairs" at least for two weeks. Was Rahul having conversation with a spirit every single day? Rahul did not file any complaint anywhere. No police station has anything to establish that he filed a missing complaint anywhere. I approached police when she was missing. There are tapes on record where I am saying I will go to the police station with you, but he doesn’t show up."
ON DNA REPORT
“People don’t want to consciously relate to the fact that there is a grieving mother…When we received the charge sheet and I saw the DNA reports, I did not understand…My then trial lawyer Sudeep Pasbola asked if I was guilty of murder. If you say you are innocent, I will give every piece of evidence to prove…When we asked for the DNA raw data (electropherograms), that was the point my lawyer said we would win. In the raw DNA data, the machine-printed numbers were cut out and changed to match my sample. Our lawyers confronted the DNA expert in court. He then admitted that he had changed it," Indrani said.
IS SHEENA ALIVE?
“I have never claimed that Sheena is alive, I have never seen Sheena or met her. There are people who have made these claims. A lawyer has taken a video footage, the court has got the CCTV footage…There is a reason perhaps why the court has allowed it…The forensics point to the possibility that she is alive. A police officer from the crime branch has claimed to have met Sheena," she said.
‘If she is alive, why would she not get in touch with you?’
“That is baffling. I don’t have an answer to it. If she is spotted in Guwahati or Kashmir…one thing is established that Sheena was alive well after the alleged date of her disappearance…Why would somebody continue to hide knowing her mother has been in jail for so many years? Unless there is something big…"
She said, “Apparently, as per Rahul’s claims, on April 26, he spent the entire day with the driver and Peter, after her disappearance on April 25… Why would he not ask the driver where he had dropped her? Also, why not take influential Peter along?"
ON RAPE BY HER FATHER, KIDS AS SIBLINGS
Indrani’s memoir ‘Unbroken’ speaks about how the men in her life – father Upendra, ex-husband Peter Mukerjea and son Mikhail – disappointed her. It states that she was allegedly raped by her father at 14 and her mother squeezed her hand asking her “not to talk about it to anyone". Commenting on it, Indrani said, “As a child your emotions are not as evolved…Sometimes I wonder whether I find it more painful now or it was emotionally more painful then…It was a shock to my system. I did not know how to react or what my mother would do next. I never wanted to see my father again. That was the kind of support I expected from my mother… I felt let down in the next couple of years…My mother did not have the courage to stand up and report…"
Elaborating on the second rape by him when she was 16, she said, “Her attachment to her husband…It was a choice she made between her husband and me…When I left home, I did not establish contact with my family, till they reconnected…I went back only because it gave me an opportunity to reconnect with my children and be there for my children…"
“Whether it is your father, son or husband, if society expects us to be good girls, then it is important for the men to be our protectors. My father was not my protector. It took me a long time to accept or say he is my father," Indrani said.
On asked why she left her kids with her mother in the “unsafe environment", she said, “I was 17. I had Rs 5,000 in my account. I am not perfect. I am not the good girl defined by society. I have led an unconventional life. I have made my mistakes. I was neither financially nor emotionally steady…I went to bring them back. My mother said I had signed my kids off and they were the custodians. It was not necessarily a decision I had taken…Everyone in Guwahati knew they were my kids although they were adopted by my parents…that status as siblings was then maintained."
‘JAIL KI LAADLI’
On being portrayed as ambitious in negative light, Indrani said, “The jail officers or prisoners became my family and protectors…[The book mentions her as jail ki laadli.] I survived and stayed unbroken because of them…I would still put on TV and get disturbed….With the media background, I understand how this works…All these people who have spoken about my life, I don’t want to speak about their lives, because they don’t interest me…I may have married more than once, but I have never broken a home…People who have said these things have done that…Those who live in fragile glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones…"
On the reports on her dressing in court and claims of suicide attempt in jail, Indrani said, “On several occasions, I would not want to wake up in the mornings…That incident was strange. I lost almost 18-20 kg because of what I was going through emotionally. A month later, I was unconscious. In prison, any medicine is given only under supervision. There was a clot in my brain…Post that, I had symptoms of brain stroke and facial paralysis…I got off the blood thinners six months ago."
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