All language subtitles for The Indrani Mukerjea Story - Buried Truth S01 E03

[Indrani] Yeah,
let me just show you a few photos.

That's little Sheena.

She's cute, isn't she? Very, very cute.

The happiest years in my life

were when I had
all the three kids together with me.

I mean,
I've loved all my children, you know.

Here, this is in fact--

This is Mekhail and me,

I can't remember now where,
on a holiday together.

[Mekhail] The truth is
that's not a family holiday trip.

This photograph is of… 2005.

This is the first time,

after my birth, I met Indrani.

[eerie music playing]

[Mekhail] Indrani called us
to Kolkata to meet her

in a five-star hotel.

She started to tell us,

"I'll help you financially
for your further education,"

and also take care of her parents,
my grandparents,

under one condition.

That we do not call her mother.

We must call her our elder sister
in front of everyone.

[camera shutter clicking]

[Mekhail] "You need financial aid,
I'm gonna help you."

"But you have to maintain this secrecy."

The main reason she told us was

that the person she is married to now,

Peter Mukerjea,
is a very famous personality.

He is very rich and a powerful person.

And she doesn't want anything
from her past

to cause trouble to that.

[camera shutter clicking]

[eerie music continues]

[Mekhail] Then she said,
"I have one more daughter."

"She also shouldn't know you are my kids."

She didn't want the world to know

she had two more kids.

On the flight back, Sheena and I,

we were devastated.

[tense music playing]

[sniffles]

That's when our grandparents

explained to us that,

"This is your chance…

to think about yourself."

We all decided that, for our betterment,
we would accept the deal.

Maybe getting on that plane
was the wrong idea.

Then maybe Sheena would still be with me.

[music intensifies]

[theme music playing]

[theme music concludes]

[birds cawing]

[ominous music playing]

[Rahul] Just hear me out,
the story keeps changing.

And there's, you know,
there's something fishy going on.

But I want to ask you something, right?

Now, I need you to be honest
with me, right?

[Peter]
Ask me, ask me, ask me…

[Rahul] Because if I get to know
later on down the line that you guys

did know something
about what was happening,

then that'll really hurt me.
That'll really--

[Peter] Darling, I promise you,
cross my heart, swear to die.

Listen, cross my heart, swear to die.
I'm not telling you anything…

I'm not making up anything,
and I'm not telling you anything

that I do not know.

[tense music playing]

[news anchor 1]
It's been almost a year

since the sensational
Sheena Bora murder case came to light.

There have been many twists
and turns as well.

But nothing as sensational
and as shocking as this.

[news anchor 2] CBI booked
media magnate Peter Mukerjea

for conspiracy in the murder.

While they've spoken
about this conspiracy,

what wasn't public till now was just

why the CBI has
charge sheeted Peter Mukerjea,

why they have arrested him.

[news anchor 1]
Twenty exclusive audio tapes!

[news anchor 3]
Conversations you can clearly hear,

how Peter and Indrani
were misleading Rahul,

thereby indicating a coverup.

[news anchor 4]
In fact, these are conversations

which had been recorded by Rahul

around 2012, the time that Sheena Bora
had in fact gone missing.

[eerie music playing]

[news anchor 5]
Rahul himself provided

the clinching evidence against his father,
Peter Mukerjea, to the CBI,

which is believed to have led
to the former media baron's arrest.

[indistinct chatter]

[reporter 1] Did you tell
the CBI that your father knew?

[reporter 2] Do you think
your father is innocent?

I can't give the reasons at the moment,

because I don't want to compromise
the case, which is being investigated.

But, needless to say,
my father is innocent.

I'm pretty sure of that.

I'm certain of that.

[Indrani] Peter writes a letter to me,

just a day before my birthday,

where he says that,
"I am… I am praying for you,

that you are going to be able
to prove your innocence."

And, you know, "I am your Romeo,"
and "Like Romeo and Juliet,

we are going to meet
and all of this is going to be over."

And the next day,
on 5th January 2016,

he files a bail application

saying that Indrani must have done it all
and I am not aware of it.

[reporter 1] Peter now says it was
his wife, Indrani, who hatched the plan

and carried out the murder.

[reporter 2] Labeling his wife
"a highly ambitious woman"

who was willing to sacrifice
her own children

to achieve her ambitions.

[indistinct chatter]

I do not believe
there has been at any point

where Peter had ever, ever, ever
asked me, "Where is Sheena?"

Ever.

In 2006, Sheena came to Bombay,

when she got admitted to
St. Xavier's College for her university.

I had funded her entire education.

I did feel that she was a lot like me.

She looks like me.

Even from a personality point of view,

she's strong, she's very strong.

[eerie music playing]

[Indrani] She's also very ambitious
like me, extremely ambitious.

Which was another reason
I got her to Bombay.

I thought it would give her
a better platform

if she was in a bigger city
and got to meet more people.

And she had the potential
because she's bright.

Everything was fine. We were a really,
really happy family together.

-[camera shutter clicking]
-[eerie music concludes]

[Vidhie] She was living at home
in Marlow, in the guest room.

That's when we cultivated this really
beautiful bond.

Me and her just became so close
that we did everything together.

[soft dramatic music playing]

[Vidhie] Ironically, we were like sisters.
You know, it was-- it was so lovely.

-[soft dramatic music fades]
-[rain pattering]

[Indrani] And this is Sheena
and Mekhail in Germany.

Can you see?

Nice memories.

Then there is…

Mekhail and Sheena, I think,
this is in Disney World.

[interviewer] Were you
with them on these trips?

[Indrani] These trips? No.

When they went for these trips,
I was so, so caught up with my work.

I was just setting up a media channel,
and a network of media channels.

[tense music playing]

[Abhijit] I saw a big change in her
after she married Peter.

There was a big change
because she saw success,

she saw power, she saw money.

Peter and myself, we were very similar,
nature-wise, you know.

Ambition.

Drive, fire in the belly.

[Kaveree] Peter was Rupert Murdoch's man
in India.

He was the head
of a hugely successful channel.

He was the face of Star TV.

Around 2005, 2006,

when Peter becomes disillusioned
with Star,

here you have Peter and Indrani
deciding to set up INX media.

[Indrani] I really put my heart and soul

into setting up INX media.

When I joined, that was the kind
of buzz around the project.

It was something that was grand.
It was destined for great things.

[tense music continues]

[Rajesh] People would say
that it could be the new CNN or BBC

that comes out of India.

[Indrani] Whilst everybody wanted
Peter's expertise and the core team,

I think they also wanted a fresh face.

I was the face of INX.

Mrs. Indrani Mukerjea,

the CEO of INX Media.

[applause]

[host] Indrani-ji.

A few words, please.

Good evening, everybody! On behalf of INX,
I'd like to welcome all of you today.

[tense music playing]

[Kunal] Both Peter and me used to be
competing with each other very strongly.

And he also plays golf, which I also did,

so we became good friends.

I was surprised that Peter named his wife

as the CEO of the company.

I never considered her to be capable
of running this kind of business.

That was one big red flag there.

[Kaveree] Here you have a woman
who doesn't come from pedigree,

who doesn't come from a famous surname.

And I think that
is one of the reasons why,

although she was very much part
of a very powerful couple,

she was always seen as
an outsider.

[camera shutter clicking]

[Vir] And the Mukerjeas
were very, very clever.

They had a PR man whose job was basically

to promote Indrani as the greatest
media person in the world.

[camera shutter clicking]

She was somebody
who was very conscious about the image

that the media carried of her,
as a corporate leader.

That is when the Wall Street Journal
starts writing about her.

[Abhijit] News came out
that she was amongst

the 50 most powerful women in the world.

She sent that to me

and told me, "See, Margaret Thatcher's
name is there."

"My name is there." So on and so forth.

[Vidhie] They really thrived in
their success and more.

My mother, she's given me everything
I could have asked for.

But to Sheena and Mekhail…

she was a different mother to them, yes.

[applause]

[Mekhail] At first,

Indrani took care of our financial needs.

But gradually, Sheena started feeling

that she was being treated differently
than Vidhie.

They both were daughters.

They were staying in Marlow together.

It was very difficult for Sheena

because she couldn't call Indrani "Mom"
in front of anyone.

From her heart,
she wanted to call her "Mom."

Since our childhood…

we have been waiting for that feeling.

And when we found it,

we saw it for someone else.

[Vidhie] We didn't choose
for our life to be this.

We didn't choose…

this, all of this, for us,
to happen to us.

And then I found out
my dad got arrested.

I was in London.

I locked myself in a room,

and I had a bottle of Jack Daniels,

and I just drank that
and, like, slept for three days.

[somber music playing]

[Vidhie] I felt so alone at that time.
I'll be really honest,

I felt so bloody alone.

My dad's side of the family was just
walking around eggshells being like…

you know, "Is Vidhie going to betray us?"

"We need to be careful of Vidhie."

[dramatic music playing]

[Vidhie] I kind of had
no income source, nothing.

You know, the ropes tightened on me.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[camera shutters clicking]

[Vidhie] And I was given
a very clear ultimatum.

"You know, if you're with Indrani,
sorry, we can't help you."

The more I start to say
more nasty things about my mom,

the more the family accepts me.

And I remember my Aunt Shangon

having this conversation with me,
where she was just like,

"I think you should stop calling
Indrani, like, 'Mom.'"

"And I think you should call
her by her name or, you know, Lucy."

[chuckles] Lucy is Lucifer.

[tense music playing]

I would've slapped Shangon Das Gupta

if she would've ever
called me Lucy to my face.

I would've socked her and taken all
her teeth out. I promise you that.

And I would do it now
if she ever dared to call me that.

I told myself, "I can't miss my mom.
She's not my mom."

And I started calling her Lucy.

[ominous music playing]

[Vaihayasi] The trial began
in February of 2017,

two years after Indrani was arrested.

[advocate] The course of the trial
will determine

whether Indrani is guilty or not.

I have full faith in the judiciary,
I have full faith in the court.

[news anchor] We still don't know
after all of this investigation

what was the motive?

Motive is the primary element.

It will be very difficult for the judge

to convict someone without
establishing the motive.

[Vaihayasi] I've been following
this case from very first day

it came to trial.

There are only a few

very suspenseful high points
we all were looking for in the trial.

So one was when Mekhail showed up.

[ominous music playing]

[Mekhail] Initially, I was nervous.

Because all this stuff was new to me.

The courtroom, the lawyers,
the way they question.

But I calmed myself down and said,

"You have to fight for your sister."

[news anchor]
Sensational details and revelations

coming in from Mekhail Bora's statement,

saying that he was being tortured
to declare him mentally unstable

so that the truth does not come out
of their relationship with Indrani.

[tense music playing]

[Mekhail] In 2005,
when I was 15 years old,

Indrani took me out for lunch,
and she told me,

"You're going to Bangalore
in two hours."

"Your bags are in the car,
clothes are ready."

"In Bangalore,
you will do your 11th and 12th grade

and that is my decision."

I didn't even know where Bangalore was.

[ominous music playing]

[Mekhail] I still remember very clearly.

I was crying. She dropped my bags.
She didn't even say bye to me.

Her car drove off
from the hostel basement.

Once I reached the school,
I was totally lost.

I did not have a mobile phone at the time.

I had no communication
with Sheena and my grandparents.

Even after I stayed there
for one year in Bangalore…

I was not allowed to speak to anyone
except Indrani.

-[bird caws]
-[tense music playing]

[Mekhail] She told me to come to Bombay.

That day I was introduced to a slim man
with specs and a moustache.

His name was Sanjeev Khanna.

I didn't know he was Indrani's ex-husband.

She said, "He is my colleague."

"He will take you to a bar. Go with him."

Last thing I remember
was having a tequila shot.

-I was blackout.
-[tense music concludes]

[Mekhail] When I regained consciousness
in the morning…

[tense music playing]

[Mekhail] …both of my hands
were tied to a bed.

My legs were tied.

[ominous music playing]

[Mekhail] Two or three ward boys entered.

They started hitting me.

After half an hour, a doctor came.

"Since you're addicted to drugs,
you've been admitted here

by your sister, Indrani."

[ominous music continues]

[Mekhail] And you are at
Masina Mental Health Care Center.

I don't know what injections they gave me.

They gave me shock treatment.

At that time, I was totally broken down.

[ominous music concludes]

[bird chirping]

[Mekhail] After a month,
Indrani came to see me.

Indrani asked me,

"You okay?" I said, "How can I be okay?"

"What did I do?"

She started shouting at me.

"He's lost his mind!"

"He's getting so aggressive."
This and that.

[somber music playing]

[Mekhail] Immediately after,
they literally dragged me away from there.

They didn't even let me speak.

That one-year period was so…

The torture I was put through,

it was no less than a death for me.

And somehow, I survived that.

Then, it struck my mind that maybe
all of this happened

because before I was admitted there,

I'd disclosed to a few people

that she is my mother.

[ominous music playing]

[Indrani] As a mother,
what am I supposed to do?

Let him kill himself
with different types of drugs?

As a mother…

I took the right decision
to take him to a doctor.

I cannot understand, you know,

you're damned if you fend for your kids,

you're damned if you don't!

Oh my goodness!

[camera shutter clicking]

[Indrani] And this is them skiing.

Skiing holiday in Switzerland.

Both Sheena and Mekhail.
They look happy.

Does this look like
a life of, you know, sadness,

no money, no wealth, no creature comforts?

This is not even creature comforts.
This is, like, luxury.

Does it anywhere look like
I had given them a life

where Mekhail was so unhappy?

This is Mekhail laughing and happy,
and that's with both his sisters.

With both Sheena and Vidhie.

And that's Sheena and Vidhie together.

Do you see? This is at home,
this is in Marlow, this is here.

See, my relationship with Sheena,

in between 2002 to 2008,
till Rahul came in, was perfectly fine.

You can see all these photographs.

Everything fell apart when Rahul came.

[tense music playing]

[Indrani] Peter brought Rahul to India

to basically settle down and to spend time
with us and to get a job.

[Vidhie] My mom and Rahul,
they didn't get along from day one.

He just wasn't settled to the idea
of my father marrying my mom.

Even before their wedding,

Rahul really caused a big problem.

Just fighting, calling my mom names.

Humiliating her in front of other people.

So, my mom then was just like,

"You know what? Fuck it.
Why do I need to take this shit?"

"I'm not going to be nice to you."
Rahul was the same.

[camera shutter clicking]

[Vidhie] Sheena and Rahul met
around 2008, 2009.

Rahul was spending a lot more time at home
when Sheena was there.

One weekend,

I remember waking up super early,
and I remember…

I was that kid
who'd just open the door, like,

I didn't even know what knocking was,
you know. I'd just open the door, and, um…

I just saw both of them, you know,
sleeping in the same bed, cuddling.

I felt a little betrayed.

I felt a little angry.

I felt like there was this whole ruse
going on.

They started to have
a relationship pretty quickly.

I do believe
they fell madly in love with each other.

That is something I can't deny.

Our house help, Maya,
went and told my mom.

She was unhappy.

[Indrani] That is inaccurate,
that I disapproved of the relationship.

But I was very concerned

about, uh, Rahul.

Rahul is a layabout. He just doesn't work,
he doesn't do anything.

And Rahul came and brainwashed Sheena
so much against me.

[Vidhie] My father and I,
we met Rahul and Sheena secretly.

Rahul was kind of, like, egging her on.

Just being like, "You should…

you should tell-- you should tell Vidhie,
you know, you should tell--

you should tell her,
you should tell her."

We were sitting out on the terrace,
and Sheena was just like,

"You know, so there's something
I have to tell you guys."

"Indrani is actually my mother."

And I was like, "Really?"

I was like,
"Does that mean we're sisters?"

That was my first reaction. I was
like, "We're sisters, that means."

And she was just like, "Yeah."
Like, she held my hand.

She was just like, "We're sisters."

[soft music playing]

[Vidhie] I looked at my dad
and I was just like, "This is crazy."

Like, "We should confront mom about it."

And when we did,
we both confronted her together about it,

but she was just like, "That's rubbish."

Like, "That's not true."

[soft music fades]

I did not think it was the right time
to tell Vidhie

that Sheena was my daughter. And…

I think the way it kind of came across
at that point, you know, I didn't--

Actually, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no.

That is not-- Vidhie never
asked me, excuse me.

I didn't even know that they had met.

I found out that Vidhie and Peter
ever met Sheena, was after my arrest.

I didn't even know they met.
Oh, so that's a complete lie. No!

[Vidhie] After that,

Sheena and Rahul became like this unit.

-It was like them against my mom.
-[camera shutter clicking]

[Vidhie] Then just, like,
fights started erupting.

A lot of fights.
And then Sheena became…

I think Sheena became very angry.

[eerie music playing]

[Vidhie] My mom and Sheena
just stopped any kind of contact.

Rahul and my dad stopped any
kind of contact. And yeah, sure,

my mom did play a part in saying,

"Listen, you know, if this is how
your son's going to behave,

you can't be in touch with him."

[Indrani] We were very stressed out,
and I was doing my work in INX.

I used to perhaps sleep, you know,

for three hours a night
or sometimes, you know,

work every Sunday,
and that's how the team was working.

[tense music playing]

[Rajesh] At INX, she did
not have a sense of control.

She was extremely insecure
about her position.

She had the suspicion
that there was a conspiracy against her.

And that there were people who were
out to malign her,

who did not want to accept her authority
in her leadership position.

There were review meetings that Indrani
would come to Delhi for,

she would come scream at the meeting.

She'd call up people in the dead
of the night and start crying.

Please, do feel free,
uh, you know, to give us

your genuine feedback.
Instead of writing nasty things,

you can just let us know.
We'll correct it all,

and then you can write good things
about us.

INX's new channels went on air.

It didn't make that impact
the way it was expected.

It didn't become the disruptor
in the media industry

-and then things started falling apart.
-[suspenseful music playing]

[Sahil]
Then the stories started coming out

about how people were thrown out,
how the fights became ugly.

Immediately, everybody knew
that it was going to go down.

[Indrani] I was a woman,
I was not from the industry,

I was young, I was inexperienced.

So obviously, it all happened
because Indrani was made the CEO.

[Kunal] INX had gone and raised

huge amounts,
a few hundred million dollars.

This whole money fizzled out in two years.

So where they spent so much money,

I really couldn't figure out.

This was something
which was being closely scrutinized

by not only the rivals and the public,
but also the investors

and also the government.

[Sahil] The Enforcement Directorate
was already investigating.

And they had a suspicion
that the money was siphoned off.

[Dilip] They sold the company
and moved to the UK.

Their non-presence in India
for many years

became a subject of…
of conversation and gossip,

and then they… they actually
vanished from the scene, as it were.

When you look at this situation,
there's just so much money involved.

And I think money is a big motivator

to do a lot of fucked up shit.

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music concludes]

[Sahil] Some people
started questioning that,

"Did Sheena know about the INX case?"

"Did she have some details of INX case?"

"Was that the reason
behind Sheena's disappearance?"

What came out of that CBI charge sheet
is public knowledge.

No financial angle was found out ever!

They stick to what the Mumbai Police
was talking about.

Then the conspiracy theory
starts coming in.

[Vidhie] During those years in England,

my mom was just extremely
stressed out by what was happening.

And she was just so volatile,
and she was so anxious.

Me and my dad became so close

that I started viewing my mom
as the really strict one…

who wanted to control what I ate,

control how many Barbies I got.

But my dad was just like,
"Just give her everything."

She was perhaps far more strict

and a little more violent
than she needed to be.

It was like a slap on the face
is just nothing.

Like, I would get slapped
for answering back.

It really emotionally traumatized me
and scarred me.

[brooding music playing]

[Vidhie] During that point,
Rahul sent one email about the engagement.

And you know, my mom
was not really happy with it.

Things were really tense,

and I think it just got
more and more tense.

[Sahil] Indrani came
with a completely fresh

and new identity in Mumbai.

Nobody from her close circles
had any inkling about her past.

For her, Sheena revealing
all these things

would have shattered her image
in the social circuit.

[Mekhail] I believe the thought
of Sheena and Rahul's wedding

really scared Indrani.

Everyone in Guwahati knew
that we were her children.

At the wedding, the lie would be exposed.

Indrani called our grandparents.

She told our grandmother
that she must convince Sheena

that if she gets married to Rahul,

Sheena will lose her share
from the Guwahati property

and they will change the will accordingly.

Indrani… used money

to control my whole family.

She used it as her weapon.

"If you do not obey my orders,

then I will stop your financial aid."

Sheena was the only person in the family

who Indrani couldn't control
with her money.

She was happy.
She said, "I am happy with Rahul,

and I want to spend my future with him."

What I went through…

[suspenseful music playing]

[Mekhail] Afraid of the consequences,

I warned Sheena,

"Please be careful."

[Rahul]
Now, what Sheena had actually told me

with regard to all of this
is that she had--

she got a place in Oxford Brookes,
but it's not until January.

And at work, as far as I know,
she's doing very, very well.

She's on her way to getting a promotion.
She got rated "Excellent" recently.

There's no reason why she would
suddenly drop her job and disappear

without informing anybody.

[Indrani] So three years,
Sheena and myself were not in touch.

I said, "Listen,

you guys please carry on,
you know, with your life."

"And I'm in England, you're in India."

Rahul was of course still not working.

"And if you're happy there,
you be there, but just--

you know, let's kind of maintain
our distance."

So, it was one fine day in 2012,
when Sheena contacted me,

and that's on record. It's on record.

Sheena contacted me that,
"I need to meet you, I need to see you."

[tense music playing]

[Peter]
After not speaking for three years,

she is the one who initiates an email.

[Rahul] Yeah, I know, I know.

-[Peter] Why?
-[Indrani] Why?

[Peter] Why does she initiate an email
so that she can go and die?

[Rahul] No, no,
I'll tell you why. Because…

Because me and you weren't in touch, Papa.

And she felt-- she felt bad for that.

She thought if she can patch things up
with Indrani to a certain extent,

then maybe that will also change.

[dramatic music playing]

[Indrani] I had met Sheena

on 7th April 2012.

7th, please get this date right,

7th April 2012.

Sheena and I met in Kalina Hyatt.

[Rahul] I said to her,
"Look, if you go and meet Indrani,

uh, you go and meet Indrani for dinner,
right? That’s cool."

"You sent her an email,
trying to patch up things."

"You go and meet with her.
And you want to do your MBA

or we know that, right?"

"If she can help you financially,

and, you know,
but she puts conditions on it…"

"I'm just saying, I'm not saying
this is what-- what's happened,

and that we must…
we must, you know, not be together,

then I'll understand that.
You go and do your education,

you do what you need to do,
and I'll accept that."

"And, you know, in the future,
I'll also be doing my thing."

"And in the future, we can meet again."

It was a long dinner.

We were talking about
a lot of things and…

But, you know, there were a lot of things.

We were catching up on three years.

She wanted to pursue her higher education,

and she just wanted
to get out of that relationship.

That was absolutely there.

There was no denying that.

The only reason now I can--

I am putting two
and two together are that--

The only reason she contacted me basically
was because she wanted the money.

That is the only reason she contacted me.

[Rahul] Okay.

[Indrani] There was no other reason
that she wanted to contact me.

[interviewer] Did Sheena ever ask you
for money?

Sheena never asked me for…
ever, ever, ever,

for a large sum of money.

In fact, on the contrary,
I must admit, even for her education,

she said that she would actually
like to take a bank loan.

It's beneath her dignity to, kind of,

demand and ask for money
until and unless she really needed it.

And after she started working,
she has never taken,

never ever asked
or never taken anything from me.

[dramatic music playing]

On April 24th, 2012, I was in Bombay.

Beyond that…

I am not going to be able
to speak at this point.

Because the matter is sub judice.

[interviewer]
Did you see Sheena on the 24th?

See, I cannot comment on it now till--

[interviewer] But hasn't that already
been established in court?

No, of course not.

[tense music playing]

[Indrani] Rahul dropping Sheena does
not establish that I met Sheena.

It has not been established so far

that I have met Sheena on any day,

either on the 24th or later,

or any day in 2012.

[Indrani] Rahul?

I'm just giving you the sequence
of events, okay?

Sheena came at 6:30 to Amarsons.

[Rahul] Yeah.

[Indrani] Okay, she bought a sari there.

I was back home

by quarter to ten.

[tense music continues]

[Indrani] This whole story itself

is so bizarre.

I've not been the perfect mom,
but that also does not make me a murderer.

Why do I need to commit a murder?

It's so ridiculous.

I am convinced about one thing.

Sheena is definitely alive.

And I know…

she's roaming around somewhere.

[tense music concludes]

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music concludes]