Indrani's 'Sid' tells his story

A bike-borne Siddhartha Das on EM Bypass in Calcutta on his way to his office on
Tuesday morning. The intense media glare, evident from the battery of cameras
aimed at him, cut short his plans and he found himself answering questions on
television through the day. Picture by Sanjay Chattopadhyaya

Tamaghna Banerjee, TT, Calcutta, Sept. 1: Siddhartha Das, so far described as the first husband of Indrani Mukerjea and who spoke to The Telegraph on Monday night, has become the most sought-after man in the country as far as television studios are concerned.

Siddhartha spoke to this newspaper for half an hour in a car on EM Bypass on Tuesday around 9am, a little before his helmeted image hit television screens across the country.

Not everything Siddhartha said tallied with what had been reported so far on the basis of documents and accounts by relatives of Indrani as well as Das and police.

The following are three key areas of mismatch.

• Siddhartha says he wasn't married to Indrani and they were live-in partners. The nature of the relationship has been in the realm of speculation so far. Siddhartha's claim does not settle the matter conclusively. An affidavit attributed to Indrani - probably filed in the 1990s - describes one "S. Das" as her "separated husband".

• Siddhartha says Indrani is aged 49 or 50. This goes against the initial reports that she is 42 or 43 although his version matches what a classmate of Indrani had told this newspaper.

• The years of birth of the children - Sheena and Mikhail - also do not match with the earlier versions. Sheena's Class X examination admit card mentions her date of birth as February 11, 1989. Indrani's affidavit suggested that Mikhail was a year younger than Sheena. But Siddhartha says Sheena was born in 1987 and Mikhail in 1988. If true, Sheena was allegedly murdered when she was 25.

The following account is based on the conversation with Siddhartha on Tuesday morning:

The name: Siddhartha shared the secret behind the name of their first born, Sheena.

"I and Indrani first became intimate inside a cinema that was screening Sheena, The Jungle Girl (the 1984 movie was actually titled Sheena: Queen of the Jungle). We loved the movie and the time we spent inside. So we decided that if we had a baby girl, we would name her Sheena," said Siddhartha. Their wish came true in 1987 when a daughter was born, he said.

A friend of Indrani had said earlier that she thought the daughter had been named after Sheena Easton, the singer, who was very popular in Guwahati.

Age: Indrani is now 49 or 50 years old, said Siddhartha. She was 20 when he started living with her in 1986 and he was a year older, he added.

How they met: They met at a party in 1984 through a common friend. "She was extremely attractive. And in those days, I had many girl followers. We quickly gelled and began meeting more often and soon fell in love," said Siddhartha, adding that Indrani used to call him "Sid".

Indrani later became a student of Lady Keane College in Shillong. Once Indrani finished college, they came back to Guwahati and began living together at Indrani's home.

They started a bakery (Indrani's relatives had earlier described it as a fast-food joint) in Guwahati. "Her parents also loved me and had no objection to me staying at the house. We used to stay in the same room," said Siddhartha, who had graduated in English.

"We were living in but we never got married," he added.

Lifestyle: Indrani had a fascination for expensive clothes, perfumes and cars, according to Siddhartha. "Even while she was in a relationship with me, she used to accept expensive gifts from other men and used to roam around in their cars. We used to have quarrels over it. But she was the one to come up and apologise later and settle the differences," said Siddhartha.

"She used to insist on investing in shares or some other things that could fetch profits quickly," he said.

Children: Siddhartha said Sheena was born in February 1987. He added that after the girl's birth, they had thought of getting married in a court but Indrani was ill for the next few months. By the time she recovered, she was pregnant again. Mikhail, named after the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was born in September 1988, Siddhartha said.

Parting: Siddhartha said Indrani never wanted the second child but it was too late for an abortion. "She was frustrated at my poor income and wanted a better life. She did not want the second child but it was too late for an abortion. She used to tell me to get a second job besides my business but I was busy trying to establish the factory," said Siddhartha.

"In 1989, Indrani said that our income was not enough to sustain the family and she was going to Shillong where she had got a job. She said that once she got settled there, she would ask me to come over in a few months," he said.

Siddhartha said the call did not come for four months. "In the fifth month, her parents asked me to leave the house. I wanted to take custody of the kids but they did not allow that. So I left their home," he said.

He said he did not have Indrani's Shillong address. After searching for two months, he finally managed to meet her through a common friend.

"She was then working with a private firm and came to meet me wearing an expensive dress and oversized shades. She told me that she was seeing someone else and was happy with her present life. She asked me to move away from her life and not to disturb her again," he said.

On his way back to Guwahati, he met with a road accident, which fractured his right leg, shoulder and right arm and left him bed-ridden for six months, Siddhartha said.

In 1992, he moved to Arunachal Pradesh, where he taught English at a primary school. He taught there till 1998, after which he came to Calcutta.

Life in Calcutta: He worked in a biscuit factory before switching jobs five times in the next 14 years. Now, he is a factory manager with a company that makes handicrafts and wooden accessories for households. The office is situated on East Topsia road.

Married life: In 1993, Siddhartha got married to Babli, who then lived in Guwahati. They now live in a two-bedroom flat on the ground floor of a three-storey building at Durganagar in Dum Dum on a rent of Rs 2,400 a month. The couple have a son, who is studying in Class XII.

Babli said in the afternoon that she came to know that her husband was Sheena Bora's father after she saw an interview of her mother-in-law. Siddhartha, however, had said in the morning that he had told his wife sometime last week but had asked her not to disclose it to their son.

About Indrani: "I did not meet her once since 1989. I tried to call her many times when I was bed-ridden after the accident but she never responded. So I stopped attempting to reach her," he said.

Siddhartha said he had no idea that Indrani had come to Calcutta and was married to a Calcuttan (Sanjeev Khanna) for 10 years or that she had remarried a media honcho like Peter Mukerjea. "I am a simple man. I hadn't even heard the name of Peter Mukerjea prior to the news of Sheena's death."

Sheena and Mikhail: "I loved my children. I had called a few times on Indrani's parents' landline number but they did not allow me to speak to either of the children. In 2002, Sheena had called me by herself and said she wanted to meet me," said Siddhartha.

He said he had visited Guwahati in 2004 and had met Sheena outside her school. "She was leading a happy life and since I earned very little and also had a family of my own, I did not want to drag her into my life," he said.

After that meeting, he used to talk to her over the phone once or twice a year but lost all contact with her after 2009, he said.

According to Sheena, Siddhartha said, Mikhail used to hate him for leaving them behind. "I tried to make Sheena understand that it was their mother who had left him. I don't know whether she was convinced by my answer but after that one meeting, she never asked to meet me again," he said.

Sheena's death: I was shocked when I came to know about it through the newspapers. I wanted to cry but I could not share it with anyone. After three days, when I found my name was in the news channels and newspapers, I told my wife about my past life. She was upset in the beginning but then vowed to stand by me," said Siddhartha.

"She (Indrani) is not like us. She has an extraordinary capacity to cause pain to people. A person like her can do anything - even kill her own child," Siddhartha added.

Hidden face: "I do not want my family or my employers to face any trouble for a relationship I had 25 years ago. What if people question my son?" Siddhartha said.

On Monday night, soon after The Telegraph spoke to the employer of Siddhartha, the factory owner had texted his manager to call him.

When Siddhartha called in the morning, his boss asked: "Are you the same Das?"

"Yes," Siddhartha said.

"Why didn't you tell me this all these days?" the boss asked.

"I wanted to put my past behind me," Siddhartha replied.