Peter in the pan: Cops finally grill former Star boss in murder probe

Even a week ago, Peter Mukerjea may not have imagined that he would spend his days ducking reporters and being grilled by the police for a murder most foul. But on Wednesday that is exactly what happened as the former CEO of Star India was reduced to a spectacle - a subject of harsh police interrogation at Mumbai's Khar Police Station, as hundreds of TV cameras waited outside to get a grab of the once-powerful TV honcho now reduced to a shadow of his former self.

Mail Today had caught up with Peter after his marathon meeting with his lawyer on Tuesday but he refused to answer our questions. On Wednesday, Peter walked into Khar Police station at 10.20 am in a striped shirt and was grilled for more than ten hours. He may have shaved off his moustache, but he put up a brave face as he walked in to face the cops.

Peter has been maintaining all this while that he knew nothing about the murder or the fact that the slain Sheena Bora was his wife Indrani's daughter from a previous relationship and not her sister.

He said he was in Rome on 24th April 2012, when Sheena was allegedly murdered. Indrani had returned to Mumbai and had told him that she was going back for her human resources business.

He said he was kept in the dark by Indrani whom he trusted blindly out of love. When the police threw a volley of questions at him on Wednesday, Peter said he still trusted his wife. But now doubts are being raised about his statements.

Peter had no definite answers to police questions on how he could be so naive to believe Sheena was Indrani's sister when his own son Rahul and stepson Mikhail told him otherwise.

Peter has reportedly told some of his friends that Indrani was mentally unstable. But when the police asked him why he did not file for divorce, he told them he was too fond of his wife.

What has added to Peter's woes is the fact that the police are not willing to give him a clean chit just yet. A senior police officer, investigating the case, told Mail Today: "We will decide about his role in the case at the time of filing of the charge sheet."

This may imply that the police are of the view that he did not play any direct role in the incident. However, he may have played some peripheral role. This leaves the police with the choice of either making him a witness or putting his name in the second column of the charge sheet. But that will come later.

The police had earlier made him submit his passport, a practice normally associated with suspects.

Peter told the police trusting his wife was his only crime.

But it brought to the fore a contradiction in his account. In the past, he had reportedly said that he was unhappy with Indrani taking control of his company's finances and that he had no say in the matter. The police also quizzed him at length about the company's holding pattern and its financial transactions.

Sources said when Peter came in front of Indrani in the police station, she broke down. Peter has said he was crest-fallen when he learnt that Indrani is the prime accused in the murder and that she had been hiding many things from him. But it appears Peter still has a soft corner for her.

Sources said even now he has not distanced himself from her completely and may be open to supporting her legally in the future. Peter may be called in for questioning again.

Meanwhile, the Sheena murder mystery took another curious turn on Wednesday as Indrani's lawyer claimed Mikhail was Indrani's adopted son, but later retracted.

The police made a breakthrough when they identified Worli-based car dealer Faisal, who had apparently rent out the car in which Sheena was killed. The police also visited Peter's Worli residence from where they seized some documents and a laptop.

There was another piece of good news for the cops. The bone test report of the samples collected by them in Raigad revealed that the body belonged to a female aged between 22 to 23 years. This falls in line with the police theory that the bones belong to Sheena.