My husband innocent, framed by rich people : Wife of Indrani's driver

"My husband is innocent and these rich people are so powerful. He is being trapped in this murder case," Sharda, wife of Indrani Mukherjea's former driver told Mid-Day.

Rais is one of the three main accused, including Sheena's mother Indrani Mukherjee, arrested so far in this case. The third one is Sanjeev Khanna, Indrani's ex-husband.

He was the first to be picked up by the Mumbai Police on August 21, in connection with a case of illegal arms possession. On the basis of his statement police first interrogated and then arrested Indrani, wife of media baron Peer Mukherjee and co-founder of INX media group.

During interrogation, Rai  confessed to the 2012 murder of Sheena Bora, alleging that it was his former employer, Indrani Mukerjea  who had planned the whole thing. 

However, Sharda refuses to believe that her husband could be a party to such a murder. "He is so scared of the dark, he cannot bear even a second without light. How can such a person commit murder?" she has been quoted as saying.

Sharda claims that it  was only through the newspapers that she learnt of Rai's arrest. "I have no television at home and no police official informed me about his arrest," she said.

Rai(43) and Sharda (26) got married in 2007.

 "After I was brought to Mumbai I came to know that my husband is employed by some Indrani in Khar.

"I never met her in my life and Rai never spoke about her either. When he finished work, he would come home and play with our seven-year-old daughter. He never discussed his work with me," Mid-Day quotes her as saying.


"He earned Rs. 12,000 a month while he was working with Indrani and he would hand me Rs.10,000 for household expenses and use the remaining money for travel. Then Indrani said she didn't need a driver any more because she was settling abroad," Sharda said.

She said Rai later began to drive an auto rickshaw and would earn Rs. 10,000 a month.

Asked whether Shyam had ever mentioned anything about the Sheena Bora case, Sharda told mid-day, "He never said anything about this. He would sit for drinks with the neighbours but even when he was drunk, he never spoke a word about it."

She said Shyam would often go away for up to a week a time, claiming he had some work out of station.

When she heard that the police had found a weapon on him, she was shocked. "I read in one newspaper that he was caught with some weapon, but I have never seen him with even a knife in hand. I cannot imagine him carrying a weapon," she added.