This media baron was accused of murdering her own daughter. After spending seven years in jail, Indrani Mukerjea shared her side of the story with Brut.
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00:00If Sheena somewhere ever happens to see this video
00:04it also went into my chart sheet you know Indrani Mukherjee is very ambitious
00:10Do you reckon that my ex-husband Peter Mukherjee became the CEO of Star without being ambitious?
00:16Prison is not what they show in movies I won't have married Peter
00:26An entrepreneur who had co-founded a media company
00:29She was accused of a murder case and after spending around seven years in jail she's out on bail
00:36She has released a book called Unbroken
00:39What was the weirdest headline that you read?
00:42The most brutal one was where I was accused of felicite
00:47The most brutal because I don't think any mother any mother can tolerate
00:54or accept being accused of you know taking the life of her own child
01:00So that was the saddest that was the saddest headline and that is the accusation right
01:07But the weirdest was something like I used to do black magic
01:13and I wish I could do black magic because I wouldn't have spent six and a half years in prison
01:18A mother is a mother you are a mother there is no good mother or bad mother
01:25I don't tell you how you should raise your kids so don't tell me how I should raise mine
01:30So yes I can understand that you know if you have let's say gone and
01:39hurt anybody anybody in life it does not have to be your own child
01:44I think that is a crime and that one can be judged upon and it does not have to be your child
01:51How is one life more important or less important than another life?
01:57Any murder is heinous
01:59So this whole angle of bad mother part came because I as a minor not even as an adult
02:10I had left my children with my parents because I needed to pursue my education
02:17So that was the really bad mother so I am not the first woman in the world who has done this
02:23And then again assuming even if I'm the first mother in the world who has
02:30pursued her education because of that I do not think it is my decision they are my children
02:37They are my children if I do not have the means and the capabilities I did not have at the age of
02:4317-18 I did not have I could not even support myself so how was I meant to support my two
02:52really young toddlers? How? It is not a crime because I'm ambitious it also went into my
03:00chart sheet you know Indrani Mukherjee is very ambitious but there are three other co-accused
03:06who are men it is not mentioned that they are ambitious now do you reckon that my ex-husband
03:15Peter Mukherjee became the CEO of Star without being ambitious? So my chiffon saris became when
03:24I went into prison became the talk of the town because now am I supposed to not have a good body
03:32because it upsets certain people and do you think that all these big tycoons are so stupid that
03:43they are going to have a conversation with me and we are going to get kind of whatever this thing
03:49only because they are they that dumb that they are going to just see my chiffon saris and get
03:55lured? Tina was 15 when your mom called you and about the financial conditions
04:01and she asked you to take care of both children yes so did she tell them that you were the mother
04:07or how did they? Tina and Mikhail by then knew about it yes they knew about it but it was
04:16not through my parents I think they knew about it Tina at least I think they got to know through
04:23one of the family members and that is how it kind of happened and but they were already on record
04:30they were their kids and that was that and so it was a very complicated situation for all of us
04:40but I also grabbed that opportunity because when I went to take them back with me you know when I
04:47started working and they were very young but neither were they ready to come back with me
04:53because they didn't even recognize me you know and also my parents didn't allow me to take them
04:59with me and that was one that time of course they couldn't decide for themselves
05:07because they were so tiny right and it was a very difficult situation initially
05:16but you know the love that I felt for them when I saw them the first time and
05:24it was like almost like I knew them yet I didn't know them it was that because I was away from
05:32them for almost 11 years so which was a long time so it was a very emotional moment when I saw them
05:40the first time in Kolkata when I walk out and you know I see and it's it's your mother's thing right
05:48I didn't see them for so many years but the moment I saw them I saw them standing there
05:54I mean you know looking I was standing on the other side right waiting for them
05:59and they were coming out the moment as there were so many other kids the moment I saw both
06:05of them I knew it was them it was just one of those things and I could see them looking out
06:11for me too and they instantly I mean they also recognized me so so it is kind of yeah but
06:22I've had several very very good moments and a lot of good times with Sheena because Sheena
06:29stayed with me in Bombay unlike Mikhail he went to study in Bangalore and then
06:34there was a phase where he had to be put away in the rehab and then he was in Delhi
06:39so Mikhail really never stayed with me you know in fact with you so spent very little time with me
06:44together in the house because she was always boarding in the UK even when I was in India
06:50and then when I went back to the UK she was still boarding so but Sheena yes we did spend a lot of
06:57time together and I mean I really both of us became very very close really so as a mother what
07:07are you doing I don't look looking for of course yes absolutely particularly you know after I wasn't
07:16looking for her till I was in prison but once I got to know when several people came and said that
07:22we met her it was more than one person who came and said right and then of course I am I'm doing
07:29whatever in my own you see I am not an investing investigating agency so I cannot do a legal search
07:38but in whatever capacity I can look for her I am I'm doing everything possible
07:45I have seen the mobile footage that is when we that I have seen the lady who saw her
07:51has known her she's a very esteemed lawyer in the country and has known Sheena for the last
07:5820 years so it's not that that lady doesn't know her you know she was quite close to Sheena so
08:06so that's the thing so let's and the other person who claimed to have seen her is the police officer
08:13herself so what she has nothing to do with me she doesn't know me why would she come in
08:20just make up a story like that and I did the right thing immediately I informed the
08:26CBI I informed the CBI director that look this lady has said she has met her so please go and
08:32retrieve the CCTV footage you were in jail and you have written a lot about that you know yes
08:39you didn't make more about your time in the jail or prison is not what they show in movies
08:45so it is that is not that is also another sea of humanity there are human beings who live there
08:53whether it is the police force or whether it is the prisoners and I was in an under trial prison
09:00so which is not a convicts prison so this is a much more liberated prison in terms of because
09:06it's like a holding house it is you know here there are accused they are not convicted these
09:13are people where there are allegations and many many people come out clean acquitted after the
09:21trial is over there are lots of people there are criminals mind you there are habitual criminals
09:28who have committed crimes have been convicted they've again come back so there are people so
09:32everybody in prison the way everybody in prison is not innocent everybody is also not not innocent
09:39you know everybody is kind of there are people who are guilty there are people who are innocent
09:44so there's a mix but I think prison per se is a very humbling experience and it is a place where
09:55you meet people from all walks of life and several of them having compulsions which drive
10:04them to crime which in a normal world for example there are some people who sell drugs or some
10:10people going to prostitution but a lot of people get pushed into it and pushed into it even by
10:18their own families it happens and a lot of people have to do things like that because they are not
10:25educated or even some people who are educated have no jobs and they get pushed to the wall it's just
10:33that and there is also another this thing where there is no proper provision of rehabilitating
10:43you know prisoners who go out which is why again they get back to the same crime because when they
10:50come come out people don't want to give jobs because they've been to prison so it's a vicious
10:57cycle. So during your time inside the jail will you introspect through all the things that you
11:04might have done differently before? That I was very sure of because I think
11:12the one person who really I felt very very hurt was by was Peter Havikis. Irrespective of
11:26crime or no crime I believe that a partner be it your husband or your companion
11:35needs to stand by you in your good times and your bad times but he totally and completely
11:43abandoned me which I have written in my book. I've forgiven him but and I'm almost over it
11:52because I've healed over a period of time and but if I could change that I would have never gone to
12:01prison in the first place. If I would have met him and I would have married him
12:06all of this kind of would have happened. But having said all of that I think my answer again
12:14would be despite my sadness you know I still feel sad sometimes when I think about it I do feel sad
12:23but if there is because also I believe that karma is you know the hero without a cape
12:32but at any point and he did go to prison after that and that is when he reached out to me and
12:38started communicating and I did soften mind you I did soften it is only after a couple of years I
12:45said no I said I can still be good to him but I do not need to be his wife anymore you know I don't
12:55need that piece of paper which binds me to him and I was married to him for 17 years it was not 70
13:01days so it's a long time. What has changed? Everything. I was married right and now I'm
13:11single and free that's I think the first thing I feel very liberated emotionally mentally I have
13:21more me time and I think I have seen life through a different lens. I have definitely become older
13:32I don't know if I've become wiser but I don't think I'll ever become wiser I'm pretty sure I'll
13:38continue making mistakes even in the future like we all do but I think I'm a happier person
13:46that I definitely am you know I feel much more happier I feel much more peaceful from within
13:54and I am now being able to I think have relationships with everybody be it family
14:03friends or if in life I ever have a companion in the future.