Indrani and Peter Mukerjea file for divorce, savings worth Rs 53 crore, apartments in England, Spain part of settlement

Sep 18 (AZINS) Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, jailed for alleged role in their daughter Sheena Bora’s murder, filed for divorce in Mumbai court on Tuesday. The divorce will end their 16-year-long marriage.

Speaking to the media over the matter, Peter's lawyer Sushmita Nair said, ‘They (Indrani and Peter) were sent for counseling today. At the final day of the divorce, they might again be counseled on the orders of the court.’

The lawyer further informed that all the immovable properties, financial settlement and personal belongings such as jewellery, furniture, paintings, watches, etc will be divided between the two after mutual consent. Other media reports also said that the settlement includes banks savings worth Rs 53 crore and apartments in England, Spain and Goa.

Indrani has demanded several items as part of the divorce proceedings. Indrani’s letter in the regard said: “Please shift your belongings from Flat no 19 (of Marlow Building) to Flat no 18 except [for] the items that I had marked in the photographs of Flat 19 that I had handed over to you.”

This was Indrani and Peter’s second marriage. They got married in the year 2002.

Indrani has been lodged at Mumbai’s Byculla jail since her arrest in 2015 while Peter is jailed at Arthur Road Jail.

In 2012, Indrani along with Peter and his former husband Sanjeev Khanna allegedly murdered Sheena over a financial dispute. The alleged crime was uncovered three years later in 2015.

Indrani came under the police radar after her driver, Shyamvar Rai, who got arrested in another case in August 2015, revealed the murder plot. The police then arrested Indrani, Khanna and the driver for the alleged murder. Peter was put behind bars later for allegedly being involved in the murder.

Their trial is underway at the special CBI court in Mumbai.

Earlier, a CBI court in Mumbai had rejected Indrani’s bail application. Mukerjea had applied for bail in August, citing ill-health and a "threat" to her life in the prison.

The court, however, rejected her plea, saying she would be much safer inside the jail than outside. Judge JC Jagdale also noted that her claims of ill-health were exaggerated. The court took note of the Central Bureau of Investigation's submission that Mukerjea has been kept in a secure cell and the prison premises are guarded round-the-clock.

Releasing her would be prejudicial to the prosecution's case, the agency had said. In her bail plea, Indrani had cited an incident in April this year when she had to be admitted to a hospital.

While the prison authorities claimed it to be a case of drug overdose, she alleged that someone might have tampered with her prescription medications. The CBI, opposing her plea, argued that she often interacted with her associates in the court after hearings and one of them might have given her the pills which caused the illness.