Ex-Star TV chief charged with murder

Former Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea has been charged with the murder of his step-daughter, Sheena Bora.

According to local reports, Mukerjea will also face charges of destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.

He had been arrested on November 19 for his role in the case, which centres of the disappearance of Bora in 2012. Mukerjea’s wife, Indira Mukerjea, is the prime accused.

Mukrjea is known internationally for running the Indian pay TV arm of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire between 1997 and 2007, and later founding Indian channels firm INX Group with his wife.

He claims innocence, telling the Indian Express: “I will study the charge sheet in jail, but I stand by what I said at the time of arrest, that I have nothing to do with the case and was not aware of the conspiracy.”

A Central Bureau of Investigation charge-sheet, which was widely cited in Indian press reports overnight, shows call data records showing Peter Mukerjea had spoken to his wife twice and exchanged messages on the night Bora is alleged to have been strangled. They then spoke again the following day, when the body is believed to have been burnt and dumped in a forest.

A statement from a key witness is also said to have been submitted to an Indian court.

Prosecutors is believed financial arrangements were made over the alleged killing, though the charge-sheet did not detail this. These will be “elaborated upon in another supplementary charge-sheet”, according to unnamed sources from NDTV.

The CBI believes the conspiracy to kill Bora, Indira Mukerjea’s daughter from a previous marriage, related to relationship she was having with Peter Mukerjea’s son, Rahul.

Indrani Mukerjea’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna and former driver Shyam Rai are also accused in the case.