It has taken the police an incredible three weeks to figure out that Sheena Bora murder accused Indrani Mukerjea held a British passport

By Bikram Vohra

It says a lot for this high profile murder investigation that it has taken the authorities no less than three weeks to figure out that murder accused Indrani Mukerjea held a British passport. Also, that only came to light because representatives from the British High Commission turned up at the lock-up to offer the accused consular services. That they were not allowed to see her is odd enough, but even stranger is the fact that it took the diplomats so long to come to the aid of one of their own citizens.

In the movies, it is usually instant.

Odder still is that this basic premise never came to light, despite the deluge of information that was being leaked almost on an hourly basis.

We knew everything about everyone, what with certain media pundits roaring night after night about being ahead of the curve, ahead of the police and, like good thoroughbreds, keeping that lead for the country. And yet, no one figured out that she isn’t Indian and hasn’t been for three years. Uh-oh. And neither is Peter Mukerjea. Imagine that.

Did no one seek to confiscate her passport? Isn’t that the first thing to do when you want to avoid flight-risks?

"Excuse me, you are a person of interest in the murder of your daughter. Would you give us your passport, please?" — that sort of thing. All that media sleuthing and screaming and no one knew.

That gives me this terrible feeling that if the media didn't know this basic fact — but has been churning out their so-called exclusives by the hour — just how much trash have they have flung at us?

On top of all this, I'm told Star India has written to all media agencies and channels that they should desist from suffixing Peter’s name to the legend ‘former CEO of Star TV’ on the grounds that it is detrimental to the channel’s image, and also unfair in the extreme seeing that his 10-year stint finished eight years ago.

That means the only inalienable fact the media knows in this grisly murder case can longer be reported.

Good luck to all of us!