Sheena wanted to stop pretending as Indrani's sister: Rahul

Sheena Bora wanted to stop pretending as sister of the key accused and her mother, Indrani Mukerjea before her murder in 2012, her fiancé Rahul Mukerjea has said in his statement before magistrate.

Indrani had introduced Sheena, her daughter from an earlier marriage, in Mumbai social circles as her younger sister.

In a statement recorded last month, the copy of which was made available to defence advocates on Thursday, Rahul, the son of former media baron and Sheena’s step-father Peter Mukerjea who is also an accused in the case, said that Indrani constantly kept changing her story about Sheena’s ‘disappearance’ after her murder.

‘Sheena said she felt that Vidhie (daughter of Indrani and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna) was being treated as her daughter, which she found very unfair,’ Rahul said.

Rahul, who used to stay with Sheena in a rented flat, also stated that in March 2009, just before Indrani and her colleague visited his flat at Khar in Mumbai, Peter had told him that Indrani was coming to his place and that she wanted to separate them.

"Later Indrani came and took Sheena away," he said.

Two months later, Sheena contacted him and said that she was in Bangalore, he said.

"Sheena communicated to me that she was in Bangalore and was not willing to stay with her former boyfriend Kaustubh Saikia, as he was trying to re-establish his relationship with her, to which she was not agreeing to," Rahul said.

"One day Kaustubh even hit a beer bottle on Sheena's leg," he said.

According to Rahul, Sheena had told him that from the joint bank account (of Indrani and Sheena) Rs 15,000 had been withdrawn (which Sheena had not) and her mobile had also been disconnected.

"In 2012, Sheena wanted to complete her further studies and was in need of funds and hence she resumed communications with Indrani," he said.

On April 24, 2012, (the day of her murder) Sheena had met Indrani, after he dropped her in suburban Bandra. However, when he tried to contact her again, Indrani sent text  messages from Sheena's mobile saying that she (Sheena) had met somebody else and also sought two months time to contact him (Rahul) again.

Rahul said that after he went to Peter's residence in Worli in south Mumbai and did not find Sheena there, he approached the police.

"The police told me that if Sheena had gone with her mother, she would soon return. They also asked me not to worry and also that we were not yet married," Rahul said.

He also said that Indrani kept changing her story (about Sheena) constantly.

Rahul said that he also met former Inspector General of Police Paramvir Singh and Sheena's superior in Mumbai metro Shubhodoy Mukherjee, who advised him to file a missing person's report.

He said that police were unwilling to take the missing person's complaint.

Sheena, 24, was allegedly strangled in a car and then her body burnt and dumped in a forest in Raigad, about 84 kms from Mumbai. Indrani, 43, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her ex-driver Shyamvar Rai have been charge sheeted in the case. Peter, 59 was arrested on November 19 for his alleged role in the murder case.