Mumbai: Taking its probe in the Sheena Bora murder case forward, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday grilled Peter Mukerjea, husband of prime accused Indrani Mukerjea.
Peter, former India CEO of Star TV, was questioned at the Khar Police Station for over 12 hours - he was brought from his Worli residence at around 10.30 am and left only past 10.30 pm.
TV reports said the police recorded Peter's statement and grilled him on various aspects of the high-profile murder case that has gripped the nation.
While Peter did not respond to media queries while leaving the Khar Police Station late in the night, official sources said among the aspects on which Peter was questioned was his knowledge of the relationships between his wife Indrani and her children Sheena and Mikhail Bora; with his son from a previous marriage, Rahul Mukherjea; with Indrani's ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna; and whether he had any inkling of the murder plan being hatched.
Peter was also grilled on certain financial aspects concerning the family as police attempts to unravel a money angle to deduce the exact motives behind Sheena's killing, which has eluded the investigators so far.
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Peter today was also brought face-to-face with Indrani, her previous husband Sanjeev Khanna, besides her driver Shyam Rai, and were questioned together, PTI reported.
While the accused were being quizzed, a police team reached Peter's home in Worli, five kilometres away from the police station, at around 3 pm and searched his and Indrani's bedrooms.
The investigators impounded a laptop purportedly belonging to Peter Mukerjea and some documents pertaining to his wife Indrani.
Indrani is accused of killing Sheena, her daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012 over a financial dispute, with the help of Khanna and Rai.
Shortly after his wife Indrani was arrested on August 25, Peter and Rahul made the sensational revelation that Sheena was actually the daughter, and not the sister of Indrani, as was previously believed.
In a related development, a Mumbai Police questioned Siddhartha Das, the ex-partner of Indrani, at his Kolkata residence.
Das, who has admitted that Sheena and her brother Mikhail were born to him and Indrani out of wedlock, has expressed willingness to cooperate in the murder probe. However, it was not immediately clear whether Das would be brought to Mumbai for questioning.
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During the investigations on Wednesday, Indrani was reported to have told police that she was opposed to the incestuous relationship between Rahul and Sheena, and also had apprehended that the duo (Sheena-Rahul) could harm her professionally.
Peter was questioned on three occasions last week, as also his son, Rahul, besides Mikhail, who arrived here from Guwahati and provided certain evidence to Mumbai Police which were being verified.
Police have also taken cognizance of Mikhail's claim that Indrani was conspiring to kill him and a fresh charge to this effect has been added in the remand application filed before the Bandra magistrate court on Monday.
A Criminal Investigation Department team visited the forests near Gagode village in Raigad district, around 95 km south of Mumbai, where the accused trio burnt and disposed of Sheena's body on the late evening of April 24, 2012.
Over three years later, Mumbai Police on Wednesday traced out a vendor in south Mumbai from whom Indrani and driver Rai bought two suitcases, one of which was allegedly used to dispose of Sheena's body in Raigad, and the other was kept for Mikhail.
Rai took the investigators to a roadside vendor in Dadar area on Tuesday evening, from whom they had bought in 2012 the two suitcases worth Rs 5,000.
The statement of the vendor -- who is likely to be made a police witness -- who recognised Rai, will help reinforce the police charge of a preplanned conspiracy hatched to kill Sheena and later Mikhail.
Presently, Indrani, Khanna and Rai are on an extended police custody till September 5.
Police are awaiting the DNA tests and forensic reports of the purported remains of Sheena's body recovered from Raigad which could be major clincher, though the motive behind her killing remains a mystery.
(With IANS inputs)
