NEW DELHI: In a startling disclosure, senior journalist Vir Sanghvi claimed on Friday that Indrani Mukerjea, accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, had told him her stepfather had molested her as a child . He said Indrani’s biological father had left the family when she was very young and her mother had married her husband’s brother, Upendra Kumar Bora.

READ ALSO: Sanjeev Khanna has confessed to complicity in Sheena murder, Mumbai Police chief says

Sanghvi, who had worked with Indrani and Peter Mukerjea at NewsX channel, told India Today TV that Indrani had told him that her mother wouldn’t protect her and this made her run away to Kolkata as a young girl.

Here she met Sanjeev Khanna, a co-accused in the murder, whom she married.

READ ALSO: I escaped death the same day Sheena Bora was killed, says Mikhail Bora

While Indrani’s extremely disturbed childhood might be an explanation (not justification) for her alleged deviant behavior, Sanghvi’s disclosure also brings the focus on Indrani’s stepfather. According to reports, which couldn’t be confirmed independently by TOI, Indrani told the police Upendra Bora had raped her as a minor, making her give birth to Sheena – if this sordid twist is true, it would explain the daughter-sister overlap. Sanghvi was skeptical about Peter Mukerjea’s claim that he was completely unaware of Indrani’s dark side.

READ ALSO: Was asleep in car during murder, Khanna says

Expressing scepticism at Peter Mukerjea's claim to be in the dark, senior journalist Vir Sanghvi said in an interview on Friday, "There has been this attempt in the media to portray Peter as this wonderful chap who went to Doon School and Indrani Mukerjea as this pushy girl who came from a small town and took over this wonderful Peter away. I never saw it like that. Yes, she was ambitious, Peter was more ambitious. I always saw them as a team," he said.

According to Sanghvi, the couple "worked to a script of their own. We used to call them lots of unprintable things. But when the problems at 9X (the group's entertainment channel) began, the whole industry used to call them Bunty and Babli. Now, I suppose people see them as Bonnie and Clyde."

Sanghvi said he saw Peter and Indrani more as "Bill and Hillary". "Both were a professional partnership. They knew what they were doing. There wasn't a single thing Indrani did that Peter didn't know about," he said in an interview to India Today TV.

READ ALSO: I knew Sheena Bora was Indrani's daughter, Peter Mukerjea says

Describing his first impressions of the couple, Sanghvi said, "Peter was absolutely besotted with her. They were a couple who couldn't keep their arms off each other ... She is actually quite attractive, charming and pleasant, and you don't think very much more of her. She seemed a nice enough person."

Asked about allegations of financial irregularities and fraud at INX - the company promoted by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea -- Sanghvi alluded to reports of Rs 168 crore being siphoned off from it. He added he had no evidence to show for it... "I have heard the same stories. It's not an entirely implausible scenario… Various investors later came to me and I said I don't know but there are obvious places to look. They had been seduced by Peter and Indrani."