Sheena Bora is hale & hearty in US, Indrani tells cops

MUMBAI (Agency) : After nearly a week of questioning, sometimes for 10 hours a day, Indrani Mukerjea has revealed next to nothing about her daughter Sheena's murder, maintaining she is hale and hearty in the US.Most of the questioning has been led by Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria himself. But Indrani has not been answering questions, saying she would talk only after consulting her lawyer.Despite over 56 hours of interrogation, including grilling by the state's toughest officer, over the past week, 'confessions' by the co-accused and grim discoveries in the Raigad forest where Sheena Bora's remains were allegedly buried, her mother and prime suspect Indrani Mukerjea has revealed little.The former television executive, arrested on August 25, has expertly dodged almost every direct question about Sheena's murder, according to officials privy to details of her interrogation, which is being conducted by Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and his team of four inspectors.Every time investigators try to put her under pressure, she confidently tells them to back off and threatens to complain about their alleged aggressive tactics to the court. "It seems she has a thorough understanding of the law. She knows when the police will try to put pressure on her and how she can deflect it. She keeps saying she won't answer questions without consulting her lawyer," an officer with the Khar police said.On Monday, Indrani's lawyer alleged that investigators had been mistreating her, even hitting her, a charge rejected by the police.Though Indrani has admitted she is 25-year-old Sheena's mother, and not sister, she maintains that her daughter is "alive and well" in the US. She even claims that Sheena, who was dating Indrani's stepson Rahul, met someone new in the US and the two got married."Every time an investigator mentions Sheena's murder, Indrani says: 'I did not killer her. She is in the US. She hates me and wants me to suffer that is why she is not coming forward and telling everyone that she is alive'," a police official said."When Indrani was informed about the recovery of Sheena's passport from Rahul, she claimed that her



daughter had used a second passport to travel to America.Sheena was last seen in Mumbai on April 24, 2012. The Khar police allege Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyamvar Rai strangled Sheena inside their car that day and later burned and buried her body in a forest in Raigad district.Khanna and Rai have reportedly confessed to their roles in the murder. Khanna, a businessman from Kolkata, has apparently claimed that he became a part of the plot after Indrani falsely told him that their daughter Vidhie was the target of a murder conspiracy hatched by Sheena and her brother Mikhail.But Khanna's confession has had no effect on Indrani, who has accused him and Rai of trying to frame her to grab her property, according to another official.
After being arrested on August 25, Indrani has been questioned for eight to 10 hours every day. Maria questioned her on August 25, 26, 28 and 31. Khar police inspectors Sanjay Kadam, Divyesh Kadam, Nitin Alaknoore and Kedar Pawar, who are part of Maria's "core team", have been questioning her daily in the presence of female officers.Joint questioning of Indrani, Rai and Khanna has also revealed little. Indrani stuck to her claims even when Maria, who dealt with hardened criminals during the 1993 blasts probe, led the interrogation of the three.The unnamed officer with the Khar police said once the three accused were made to sit in the same room, but they didn't interact with each other."They knew that there was a camera in the room. On a couple of occasions, Indrani had an argument with Khanna and accused him of wrongly dragging her into the case," the officer said.Indrani, who is being held at the Santacruz women's lock-up, apparently has been answering general queries about her family. But every time investigators ask her about her equation with Sheena, she reacts angrily."She claims on April 24, 2012, she went out with Sheena for coffee in Bandra and then dropped her back home. The next day, Sheena left for the US. When investigators ask her why Sheena has not called since, Indrani claims she does not want to keep contact with any family member," the officer said.