MUMBAI: Police investigating the Sheena Bora murder case discovered on Sunday that Indrani Mukerjea had hired a Mumbai-based contract killer to eliminate her son, Mikhail Bora , in August 2014. It was her fourth attempt to kill Mikhail.

READ ALSO: Sanjeev Khanna, Indrani's driver taken to Raigad forest

A high-ranking bureaucrat said it was learned that Indrani or her associate had paid Rs 2.5 lakh to a contract killer. "Our information is that the plan failed to take off. We have detained the contract killer. He has admitted that he was hired by Indrani to eliminate Mikhail," he said.

Guwahati-based Mikhail had told police that Indrani tried to kill him thrice. Earlier, she had sent him to the state-run Pune mental hospital. He had also claimed that before Sheena was killed on April 24, 2012, Indrani had visited Guwahati twice and tried to drug him.

READ ALSO: Indrani, Khanna blame each other during interrogation

Even on the day Sheena was murdered, there was an attempt to spike his drink, but he escaped from Indrani’s Worli residence, he had said.

"The contract killer’s statement will be recorded as early as possible and he will be interrogated by the Khar police, in the presence of Indrani and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna," the bureaucrat said.

On the dereliction of duty by the Raigad police, who did not register a murder or accidental case, he said it appears that a politician or a high-ranking officer exerted pressure. "As far as procedure is concerned, unless an accidental or murder case is registered, any part of the human body cannot be sent for a post-mortem. There appears to be a deliberate attempt to not register a murder case," he said.

READ ALSO: 'Ignored by cops', Rahul kept Sheena's passport to himself

After Indrani was arrested on August 24, following her driver’s confession, it was felt that the case was solved. "The case is getting murkier by the day with shocking revelations coming out on a daily basis. The Mumbai police have deployed a record number of officials to probe the case," he said.

He said though key players in the case have been arrested, law-enforcement agencies have not been able to establish the motive.

READ ALSO: My mother Indrani tried to kill me same day she killed Sheena, Mekhail Bora says

