Sheena Bora, who was allegedly murdered by her mother Indrani Mukerjea three years ago, had told close friends she planned to marry former Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea’s son Rahul by the end of 2012.

“Sheena and Rahul were very much in love and she told some of us who were very close to her that she intended to marry Rahul, possibly by November 2012,” said a source who played a key role in alerting Mumbai Police on Tuesday that Indrani was Sheena’s mother.

The source, among Sheena’s closest friends, said Indrani was very upset with Sheena’s relationship with Rahul as she believed it could affect her own marriage with Peter Mukerjea.

“Indrani was very particular about matters like her social status and thought Sheena’s marriage plans could cause her embarrassment. Indrani was probably worried her real relationship with Sheena, which she had kept secret for so many years, would come out in the open,” the source told Hindustan Times.

Sheena, who was 24 when she was killed in April 2012, told her closest friends about her mother’s unhappiness with her relationship with Rahul. While she also told them about her marriage plans, she did not say whether she had discussed the matter with Indrani, the source said.

“Rahul too wanted to marry her. He was very worried when Sheena went missing in March 2012 and initially told us he wanted to file a police case. Later he just seemed to give up after there was no news of her,” said the source who did not want to be identified because of being employed in a sensitive government institution.

The source said Sheena’s closest friends had visited her home at Sundarpur in Guwahati two or three times after she disappeared but were told by her brother Mikhail Bora that she had gone to the US for studies. The source said Sheena’s friends had reservations about Mikhail’s role in the affair.

During a visit to the Boras’ home in late 2012, the source said he was able to spend a few minutes in private with Sheena’s grandmother Durga Rani Bora, who alleged that Mikhail sometimes mistreated her and her husband Upendra Kumar Bora.

Mumbai Police have arrested Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyam Rai for alleged involvement in Sheena’s murder on April 24, 2012. They have also been accused of disposing of her body in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

Mikhail has said he has no doubts that his mother killed Sheena. He has hinted he has more information about the motive for the murder but refused to give details.

Indrani married Peter Mukerjea in 2002 and passed off Sheena and Mikhail as her sister and brother. Peter Mukerjea has acknowledged that Sheena and his son Rahul were in a relationship. He has also said he was told that Sheena was sent to the US because Indrani was opposed to the relationship.

Read:Said, unsaid and suspense in Sheena Bora murder case

Sheena Bora murder case: A complex web of lies and deceit

First Published: Aug 27, 2015 15:25 IST