Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Thursday extended the CBI custody of former media baron and Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani Mukherjea's husband Peter Mukerjea till November 30.
Peter, who was taken to New Delhi for two days for questioning by senior CBI officials in the Sheena Bora murder case, was brought to Mumbai as his Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody ended on Thursday.
During court hearing, Peter's lawyer Mihir Gheewala claimed that Peter always maintained that he became the victim of his wife's devious methods.
He said that CBI in its chargesheet mentioned that Indrani's insecurities about Rahul-Sheena relationship was the motive for murder and CBI doesn't need his custodial interrogation to get his account details.
However, CBI demanded Peter's custody claiming that they have to collect more information as they have documents justifying that huge money has been routed to Sheena from Peter's company.
"We are looking at the money angle as a possible motive behind the murder. Soon after Sheena went missing Peter and Indrani had gone to Mumbai police and told them that Sheena went missing. But later they told the cops that they managed to locate her. There are many contradictory statements, which need to be probed," CBI said.
The agency claimed that there is huge siphoning off of money from the 9X investment. "This money may have gone to Singapore and other places. They promoted several companies from 2006-07 and investments were made via Singapore accounts. It was also found that bank accounts were opened by Indrani's friend Gayatri Ahuja in Singapore and some of the account seems to be in Sheena's name," CBI said.
"Total financial transactions are running into Rs 900 crores and we have issued notice to Interpol seeking access to the HSBC bank accounts," the agency claimed.
Later, after the court hearing Gheewala told the reporters, "Yes he (Peter) is a businessman and has financial transactions but there are no clear details of financial transaction as claimed by the CBI. How that (financial transaction) is related to this case? Peter has nothing to do with this case and the CBI has no proof of financial details connected to Peter."
Terming Peter's arrest as a shock, his family issued a statement and said that it's a trying time for them, adding that the media honcho has an impeccable reputation.
The family statement says, "We would like to state from the outset that we recognise the importance of a free and responsible media. Further, we would also like to state that we trust the investigating agencies will continue to do their hard work with honesty and sincerity to seek justice in this case."
"Peter Mukerjea's arrest has shocked our family and friends around the world. This has been a trying time for the family as it would be for anyone in similar circumstances. Peter is a much loved member of the family, known for his generous and compassionate nature and an honourable and impeccable reputation," it reads.
The statement has further said that the family is confident of Peter Mukerjea's innocence in the Sheena Bora murder case.
"The whole family is confident of Peter's innocence and we are in no doubt that due process will ultimately reveal this. It would be best at this time that the agencies are allowed to conduct their work in an unhampered manner - without irresponsible conclusions being arrived at in the interim period by any party. We trust that the media recognises that this matter concerns the privacy, reputation and image of a self-made and respected individual and his family that has already suffered trauma in this case", the statement says.
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