Sheena Bora murder case: Peter Mukerjea puts the blame on Indrani

Mumbai: Peter Mukerjea’s lawyer on Thursday, while arguing for his second bail application, claimed that the former media baron did not know anything about his stepdaughter Sheena Bora’s death till the arrest of his wife Indrani. He also put the entire blame of Sheena’s murder on Indrani.

Peter’s lawyer also told the court that if the reasons given by prosecution could create suspicion on his client for his involvement in murder then there are similar reasons to doubt senior IPS officer Deven Bharti and other persons as well.

“If a husband, who is in another country like London or Rome, speaks to his wife over the phone several times and if the telephonic conversation can be reason to suspect him for his involvement in murder than there are similar reasons to suspect other persons as well with whom Indrani was in constant touch,” argued advocate Abad Ponda while seeking bail for Peter.

He said that when Indrani came to India for some property deal in Goa she had spoken to IPS officer Deven Bharti several times. He also pointed out that psychiatrist Dr Yusuf Machiswala had given sedatives for Sheena Bora and Indrani’s secretary Kajal Sharma had created an e-mail account in the name of the deceased. Advocate Ponda raised question as to why these facts did not create doubt.

Advocate Ponda produced a chart prepared by defence to the court to show that there is a time difference of a few hours between India, London and Rome and the timings show that most of the calls were made between the husband and wife to say good morning and good night and the number of calls increased because many calls were sustained within the duration of only a few seconds. Peter’s lawyer argued that the investigating agency is only watching numbers and not the conversation that took place between the applicant and Indrani. He also claimed that the number of calls between the husband and wife and the length of the conversations between them could not be the reason to doubt their involvement in conspiracy, especially when one of them was in another country.

During arguments, Peter’s lawyer also tried his hand at some emotional statements like: “It is because of (Peter’s) karma and naseeb (fate) that he got Indrani as his wife.” He further said Peter wanted to sustain a healthy relationship among all the members of his family and in trying to do so he had encountered problems as there was a rift between Rahul and Indrani.

Apparently, Rahul had called Indrani some names for which Indrani wanted him to apologise but he refused, saying that she had made him badmouth her.

Advocate Ponda said all the e-mails, SMSes and witness statements relied upon by the prosecution actually shows that Peter did not know anything about murder but the prosecution purposely read incomplete sentences before the court to implicate him in the case. The arguments of defence are set to continue.