Enforcement Directorate to initiate separate probe against Peter Mukerjea

The noose around Peter Mukerjea seems to have tightened further with the Enforcement Directorate preparing to initiate a separate inquiry against him to investigate whether former media baron allegedly siphoned off money abroad.

Sources in the agency said, “The ED may soon file a case on the basis of the FIR registered by the CBI in the Sheena Bora murder case. The agency is also scrutinising documents pertaining to a Kolkata-based firm, allegedly linked to Indrani Mukerjea and Peter”. Besides, two others private firms based in Kolkata are also under the scanner of the ED in this regard, they added. If required, the ED may take assistance from the Maharashtra and West Bengal police after initiating a formal inquiry against Mukerjea, sources said.

“At present the ED is analysing CBI’s FIR register in the Sheena Bora murder case,” sources said. The CBI recently conducted a lie-detection (polygraph) test on Mukerjea in connection with its probe into the murder of his step-daughter Sheena.

Sheena (24), Indrani’s daughter from an earlier marriage, was allegedly killed by her mother, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai in April 2012.

Peter was recently quizzed by the CBI in connection with the case. “CBI’s questioning focused on whether funds allegedly siphoned-off from the media house founded by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea were parked in an overseas account of Sheena Bora resulted in a dispute between Indrani and her daughter”, sources said. Sources further said that the agency sleuths also confronted Peter with the income-tax returns filed by him and Indrani to ascertain their various investments in India and abroad during his interrogation.

It may be recalled that while seeking custody of Peter from the Mumbai special court, the CBI had claimed that he has told the agency that accounts might have been opened in the name of Sheena by Indrani in banks in Hongkong and Singapore.