IG (Prisons and Correction Services) Rajvardhan Sinha submitted the report, which runs into a few hundred pages, to DG (Prisons) Bipin Bihari on Thursday. (File)
INDRANI MUKERJEA, lodged at Byculla District Jail in connection with the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, has allegedly denied having written to the Nagpada police station, claiming a threat to life for deposing against Karti Chidambaram in the INX deal case, a report by the inspector general (Prisons and Correction Services) has reportedly stated.
IG (Prisons and Correction Services) Rajvardhan Sinha submitted the report, which runs into a few hundred pages, to DG (Prisons) Bipin Bihari on Thursday. Sinha was probing the circumstances leading to Mukerjea’s illness in the jail on April 6 in order to ascertain whether she was drugged or had willingly taken the drugs. The documents attached in the report included a handwritten statement of Mukerjea in English.
“On April 11, while being discharged from the hospital, Indrani had handed over a handwritten note addressed to the Nagpada police station. The letter stated that she has been threatened for deposing against Karti Chidambaram in the INX deal case. However, when she was asked about the letter, she claimed she wasn’t aware of writing it,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
“When asked about the statement she made before the media in the hospital compound after being discharged, she said that she was under medication and was feeling drowsy when media personnel pressured her to give a byte. She claimed that she just nodded to their queries just to get rid of them. She asserted that she doesn’t remember speaking about the alleged threat to her life or even using the word the threat,” the official added. In the past one month, statements of over four dozen people have been recorded. “After studying the report, the DG will decide whether a detailed criminal investigation needs to be conducted,” said the official.
Post her deposition against Chidambaram in the INX case, Mukerjea was moved from the common cell to a special cell with only two more inmates due to security reasons. To keep vigil, more staff are deployed around her cell, which is under CCTV cover. Through the CCTV footage, statements and medicine records, the jail authorities have pieced together what transpired on the night of April 6 on the first floor cell of the women’s jail.
“The escorts who took her back to the jail told us that during the journey, Indrani was looking drowsy… She told them that she was tired. The two other inmates lodged in Mukerjea’s cell also said she was drowsy and her eyes were red. They added she wanted to take rest and lay down in the corner,” added the official.
According to jail authorities, on April 6, during dinner around 6 pm, Mukerjea told the staff that she would only have dal. “She said that during the hearing, she had shared a slice of pizza with her husband Peter Mukerjea and a parantha with former husband Sanjeev Khanna (other accused in the case),” said an official.
But around 10.30 pm, Mukerjea complained of uneasiness and difficulty in breathing and was rushed to JJ hospital. While the urine report of the Hinduja hospital showed a significant increase in the Benzodiazepines level, she was not prescribed the drug. Benzodiazepines are psychoactive drugs commonly used for treating anxiety and insomnia.
“After the 2015 fiasco (Mukerjea fell sick and was admitted at JJ hospital), she was prescribed a painkiller (aspirin), an anti-hypertensive drug and an anti-depressant. Whenever she took any of those, an entry was made in a register. The jail staff put the medicines in Mukerjea’s mouth… Logs have been maintained in this regard,” the official said.