The question being silently telegraphed around the court room was: When did this happen? Wasn't this trial about Indrani murdering her daughter to prevent her from marrying Rahul Mukerjea, her husband Peter Mukerjea's son from his first marriage?
Stating that the marriage had "irretrievably broken down", Indrani had sent a divorce notice to Peter Mukerjea in April this year.
After the wedding, Sheena and Mekhail did not meet again. Four or five months later she met her death. Mekhail referred to their last meeting without overt emotion, clear-eyed.
Fear of Sheena Bora inheriting the entire property of her and her husband in the event of the victim's marriage to Peter Mukerjea's son Rahul is said to be the prime motive for Indrani Mukerjea to do away with her daughter, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet in the sensational case.
As the probe in the Sheena Bora murder gathers pace with accused Sanjiv Khanna confessing to his complicity, here are the latest updates in the murder that has gripped the nation.
In the charge sheet, the agency said that prime accused in the high profile murder case, Indrani Mukerjea, was not happy with the love affair of Rahul and Sheena.
'The Mumbai police should study the bank accounts and flow of money in and out of the accused's bank accounts.'
'Sheena was helpful and generous, kind and respectful of her elders,' an employee at the Disneyland High School in Guwahati, where she studied from nursery to Class 10, told Indrani Roy/Rediff.com
Indrani dressed in a short purple kurta and leggings, with a bandhini green-purple chunni, sindhoor glowing in her mang, was receiving a drubbing from her lawyers for the facts she had revealed before the court on Tuesday while arguing the rejoinder to her bail application. She was insisting: "But he asked me for a motive!"
A special CBI court in Mumbai on Thursday said Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, can walk out on bail after furnishing a bond of Rs 2 lakh as it finalised her bail conditions.
Here are the latest developments in sensational Sheena Bora murder case.
Though Indrani Mukerjea disliked Rahul Mukerjea, she did not have the same attitude towards his brother Rabin, and never restrained her husband, Peter, from talking to him.
The Sheena Bora murder mystery has seen more twists in a day than a television sitcom. As skeletons tumble out, a mighty media baron and his glamorous wife have become the centre of a media storm.
The calls taped by Rahul Mukerjea indicate that there was an attempt to cover up the Sheena Bora murder case.
All the three accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case -- Indrani Mukerjea, Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai -- will be produced in a court in Mumbai as their police custody ends on Monday.
"His (Chidambaram) arrest is good news. He is now cornered from all sides," Indrani Mukerjea told reporters in a sessions court where she was produced to attend trial in the case of killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.
In his bail plea, Peter refuted the CBI's contention that he and Indrani hatched the conspiracy to murder Sheena.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria tonight said the police have a fair idea of the motive behind the murder of Sheena Bora but declined to elaborate saying the "third accused" (Sanjeev Khanna) was yet to be interrogated.
Custody of Indrani Mukerjea, arrested for killing her daughter, Sheena Bora ends on Monday
CBI Special Prosecutor Bharat B Badami presents the first part of his arguments countering Peter Mukerjea's November 2018 bail plea.
The 25 odd witnesses that so far had given testimony had not come up with anything incriminating against Peter or the way Shivade characterised it -- "not even a whisper."
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a list of 23 witnesses it would not be examining against former media executive Indrani Mukerjea and other accused in connection with the killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.
As Peter sits outside the court with his sister, Indrani walks in with a request. It has been three months since Peter has started speaking to Indrani again, after a long silence of two years.
On Thursday, Indrani will be obligated to change into the green uniform sari she receives visitors in, as per jail rules, and meet the gentlemen from the income tax department. She may also at some point on Thursday video conference with Delhi in the INX Media-Karti Chidambaram case where she might become an approver.
Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, her husband and former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, and others who have come under the investigators' scanner in the murky family saga on Friday faced day-long interrogation.
Former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, husband of accused Indrani Mukerjea in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, underwent a fresh round of questioning on Thursday and is likely to be confronted with his wife.
Here are the latest updates in the case in which cops have said that they have a 'fair idea for the motive'
A local court in Mumbai on Thursday allowed the CBI to question afresh Indrani Mukerjea and two other arrested accused in the Sheena Bora murder case.
The CBI had registered an FIR in the case on May 15, 2017 alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.
The sensational Sheena Bora murder case probe tonight acquired a new turn with police claiming that Sanjay Khanna, former husband of Indrani Mukerjea, confessed to his complicity in the crime during a joint interrogation of three accused on a day the victim's skeleton remains were recovered.
Indrani is clearly in charge in her little corner. She is speaking rapidly to a not-very-tall, pot-bellied, balding man, whom she repeatedly, decisively, asks, "Have you understood?" The tone is that of a boss talking to an employee. The words "cheque" and "two lakhs" float by.
Here are the developments in the murder case which has taken explosive twists and turns since Indrani's arrest on Thursday night.
The car in which Sheena Bora was allegedly killed was on Saturday traced while questions cropped up of a cover-up by police in not registering a case of murder or accidental death 3 years ago when a partially-burnt body believed to be hers was found.
Sources said Mukerjea was arrested for 'shielding the accused' and 'inconsistencies' in his statements
Indrani and Peter Mukerjea seemed more at ease on Wednesday, maybe with the INX Media interrogation over temporarily, chatting cheerfully and easily amongst themselves, and with former husband Sanjeev Khanna, at the back of the courtroom, in the accused enclosure.
One couldn't help feeling a certain melancholy viewing these now vagrant documents and photographs that would never be rightfully cherished. The pictures spoke to you. They offered slices of extinguished lives. They breathed sadness too, for what could have been and will never be. The sweet promises that Life made and insolently, arrogantly never kept.
The CBI also told the court that it has sought Interpol's help in seeking access to overseas bank accounts of the Mukerjeas
Then came the electrifying climax of Tuesday's hearing. Pasbola showed Sharma copies of cheques that had been deposited at the bank with Indrani's signature on them. He accused Sharma of forging Indrani's signature and collecting the money for herself. In the back Indrani stood up in the accused box and very pointedly nodded her head up and down and mouthed, "She did!".
Indrani called her personal assistant Kajal Sharma from the UK, May 3, 2012, and told her she had to sign Sheena's resignation letter as if she was Sheena signing it. But she had to first practice the signature and send Indrani proof of her proficiency in signing Sheena's name before sending the letter off. Sharma said she was reluctant and told the court that she told Indrani as much, but Indrani demanded it of her.
Throughout, Mekhail spoke calmly, with hardly an inflection making even the barest attempt to hijack his tone. His tone was so empty it made his narrative all the more touching. And ugly and grey, as the monsoon sky beyond the window.
