Sheena Bora murder: Was this suitcase meant to hold Mikhail's body?

Suitcase

The sensational Sheena Bora murder case saw another major development taking place yesterday when the police seized a suitcase that was purportedly meant for packing the body of her brother, Mikhail, whom Indrani Mukerjea had allegedly also planned to kill. Indrani had allegedly bought two suitcases from Dadar to dump the bodies.

Murder most foul: Killing Sheena Bora in the car was Plan C

Officials haul away the suitcase that was recovered from the Worli residence. Pic/PTI

The development came on a day when Sanjeev Khanna and the driver, Shyam Rai, were taken to the spot to re-create the crime scene.

Also read: Hours before murdering Sheena, Indrani and Sanjeev drugged Mikhail

Mikhail had claimed that Indrani had given him a spiked drink and had also planned to kill him on April 24, 2012, the day when Sheena was allegedly murdered. The seizure of the suitcase from the residential premises of Indrani and Peter Mukerjea in Mumbai's Worli area apparently lends credence to Mikhail's claim about his mother's plan to kill him and pack his body parts, but there was no police confirmation of this theory.

The police yesterday also brought Sanjeev Khanna to the Khar police station and later took him and Shyam Rai to the forest in Pen tehsil, near the Gagode Budruk village, to "re-create" the crime scene.

Sanjeev and Shyam were taken to Raigad in different cars to verify the claims and the locations they had visited. The police even went to the dhaba where they had food and the petrol pump where they had refuelled, which was also used in burning Sheena's body. The police kept cross-questioning them inside the cars. They were kept in separate cars as the police wanted to know if either of them was hiding something.

Court Trip
Indrani, Sanjeev and Shyam will be produced before a local court today (Monday), where the police are likely to seek extension of their police custody.

During sustained interrogation on Saturday, Indrani and Sanjeev had blamed each other for the crime. Indrani had accused Sanjeev of committing the murder and dragging her into the crime. However, he said he had only assisted Indrani as she had promised to help him financially.

Also read: Three years later, Cops find remains at crime scene, thanks to Policeman Patil

Meanwhile, a village official in Raigad district, who had helped the team of Mumbai police locate the spot where Sheena Bora was allegedly buried said yesterday that when he first spotted the body in 2012, it was just a skeleton with no flesh. "It was all skeleton. There was no flesh. The local government doctor took it for post-mortem, after which it was buried," Police Patil Ganesh Dhene of Hetevne village said.

Asked how he had come across the skeletal remains, Dhene said, "I had gone to collect mangoes. The body was not in a suitcase. The surrounding area was burnt."

The blood and hair samples of Indrani and Mikhail have also been collected and sent to the Kalina-based Forensic Science Laboratory. The report is expected in two days.

(Inputs by Shiva Devnath)

Rs 10 lakh
The amount that was allegedly promised to the driver, Shyam Rai, for his role in the murder

Rs 1 lakh
The amount that was given