Stress on cash, strain on ties

Samyabrata Ray Goswami, TT, Mumbai, Sept. 4: Peter Mukerjea told his interrogators today that as far as he was concerned, his marriage was over and he did not want to keep any truck with his wife who has "admitted" to murder, sources claimed.

Accompanied by his chartered accountant, Peter spent 12 hours at Khar police station for the third consecutive day.

Police sources claimed that investigations had revealed that Indrani had kept some bank accounts "secret" from Peter.

"When we brought these facts before Peter, he claimed ignorance. He said the news shocked him and it would be the last nail in the coffin of his marriage," said a police officer.

The officer said the "secret" accounts were in Mumbai and Delhi branches of five top banks of the country, where Indrani also held joint accounts with Peter.

"This apart, there are some offshore private banks in the UK, Spain, Singapore and Luxembourg where she has kept money. Peter says he knows nothing about them. We are checking all details. As of now, we are not giving a clean chit to Peter," said the officer.

It is not illegal to hold accounts without informing spouses. Neither is it against the law to park money in banks abroad as long as the disclosure requirements are met in India.

Around noon, Vidhie, the daughter of Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna, and Peter's brother Gautam were brought to Khar police station for questioning.

"Vidhie had claimed that she had received mails from Sheena claiming that she was in the US. We needed to talk to her. We have her computer and the cyber-branch is checking the matter," an officer said.

A little before the interrogators called it a day on Friday night, Indrani was brought face to face with three of the men in her life: Peter, Sanjeev and Siddhartha Das, who has claimed to be Sheena's biological father.

"They were brought into a room at the end of the day's interrogation," said a police source, declining to divulge more.

Digital match

The digital superimposition of Sheena's profile on a skull found in Raigad has matched, sources said.

"It establishes the identity to some extent. The DNA samples taken from Siddhartha and Indrani are being matched with the bone samples. If they are positive, it will be water-tight evidence to establish the identity," said an aide to a police surgeon.

A Mumbai forensic analyst said that the skeletal remains would help determine identity, age and gender but would do little to establish the cause of death.

Additional reporting by Kinsuk Basu, Sambit Saha and Rith Basu