Rahul Mukerjea, stepson of Indrani Mukerjea, on Friday told the special Central Bureau of Investigation court that after Sheena Bora’s disappearance when he was trying to find out what happened to her, Indrani tried to convince him that Sheena had gone on her own.
Rahul is testifying before the court in connection with the murder of his fiancée Sheena. On Friday, Rahul was confronted with the recorded conversations between him, his father Peter, and Indrani.
In the previous hearing, Rahul had deposed that he was first told that Sheena had left for the United States though he did not believe it since her passport was with him. Later, he was told that Sheena had left him to be with someone else who was much wealthier, Rahul had said.
After the disappearance of Sheena on April 24, 2012, Rahul had started a search. Out of suspicion, Rahul had recorded all the conversations between him, Peter, and Indrani. The tapes of these recordings were submitted by Rahul to the Khar police who first began the probe in the murder and arrested Indrani in 2015.
On Friday, Rahul identified the voices in the tapes and gave the context of the conversations.
“I was getting frustrated as I was not getting answers. Sheena had told me that in April 2012, she [Indrani] wanted to take her to Nagpur where they were to check out a property. Pappa [Peter] was saying that Sheena told Indrani that she had met a guy in Nagpur and she wanted her to meet him,” Rahul said, adding that there were a number of theories about Sheena’s proposed visit to Nagpur.
In one of the conversations, Rahul said, he was informed that Sheena had called her boss on April 25 and said she would not be able to report to duty as she was travelling. “Also, Indrani told me that Sheena had contacted her and informed about the guy and that Sheena contacted her only for money.”
Rahul said Indrani later mentioned filing a missing person complaint with the then crime branch head Deven Bharti who she claimed would probe the whereabouts of Sheena. “Indrani asked me for the address where we were staying but I was fearful to give her that,” Rahul said.
In another conversation, Rahul said, Indrani kept updating him about the findings of the probe allegedly done by Bharti after the alleged complaint. “Indrani said Bharti had told her that Sheena was seen at the airport at 11 am on April 25, 2012. I was also told that Sheena had had a conversation for an hour with one Nishant Khurana from Delhi.”
“At that point, I knew that it was not true, as he was the new boyfriend of Sheena’s friend Pranami. Sheena didn’t know him well to have that long a conversation,” Rahul told the court.
“I got to know about Khurana after I spoke to Pranami and she was also shocked and said Sheena did not know him well,” Rahul added.
In one of the subsequent conversations, Rahul asked Peter to share the numbers of Khurana and Bharti so that he could speak to them. Rahul also said he wanted to verify the number of Khurana with Pranami. “Indrani and Peter never shared their numbers with me,” Rahul said.
In the last tape that was played in the court on Friday, Indrani was heard talking to Rahul and asking him to move on. In that conversation, Rahul asked Indrani if Sheena was alive or dead to which Indrani said “why would I think that Sheena was dead?”
Rahul said after a heated argument broke out between them on the issue, he stopped talking to Peter and Indrani.
