She was rushed to JJ Hospital late on Friday afternoon in a unconscious state
Image Source: telegraph.co.uk
Mumbai: Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in the murder of Sheena Bora, her daughter from a previous marriage, was lodged in Byculla jail since August 25th for the same. The wife of media giant owner Peter Mukerjea, she collapsed after allegedly consuming several anti-epilepsy and anti-depression pills at once. She remained unconscious even late at night.
Early Saturday morning, the dean at JJ Hospital, Dr. T P Lahane, stated,” Medically, she is responding to oral commands. She is a semi-conscious state, with her respiratory continuing to be of concern.” He had said yesterday that the case was clinically one of drug overdose. Indrani’s mother, Durga Rani Bora, passed away on Tuesday and jail authorities are unsure whether Mukerjea was informed about the demise. On the other hand, her father, Upendra Kumar Bora is also ill.
The dean had commented,” There is a possibility that she collected them (the pills) and consumed them all at once. She came to us in an unconscious state. She has developed respiratory distress,” having been shown the jail records of Indrani’s medication, starting from September 11th. She took two pills per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, under the police’s invigilation. It included anti-depressant Mirtzapine (7.5mg) and Etizolam (0.5mg), an anti-convulsant. During examination, the contents of her stomach were collected by doctors and have been sent for forensic analysis for confirmation of drug presence. She is in the critical care unit of the hospital. A urine test and a blood test is also in order, the results of which are expected by Sunday. However, initial tests have crossed out the possibility of opium poisoning, according to the dean.
While most authorities think Indrani went into depression at the demise of her mother (when she was prescribed minimal doses of anti-depression medicine), it is still unclear how she got hold of them. Said one neurological expert, “Overdosing on an older generation of anti-epileptic medicines can become life-threatening if it affects the respiratory system. It can also cause serious brain injury.” He also brought to light the fact that oral medicines for epilepsy are not the preferred form of treatment any more. Epilepsy is known to strike at any age, but cases are few in the middle-age.
Mukerjea’s defence attorney, Gunjan Mangala claimed to be unaware of any medical condition her client was suffering from, because she had not put in an application in court for any kind of medication. Since authorities are not obligated to inform lawyers about such situations, the attorney was in the dark about Indrani’s seriousness until much later. She is expected to visit the accused later on Saturday.
It has also come to light that jail authorities had denied Mukerjea access to eye-drops and multi-vitamin tablets from outside earlier. Taken into custody for strangling her daughter to death in a car outside National College in Bandra, the remains of Sheena Bora were found by Khar police in 2012. Indrani’s ex-husband, Sanjeev Khanna and driver, Shyamvar Rai were also involved. The case, with its many twists and turns has also recently developed a financial inconsistency to it.
Although still in critical condition, Mukerjea is stable with well-maintained parameters. She is responding to her name being called. A doctor working on her case at JJ has said,” We cannot say she is out of danger as it will take 72 hours for the poisonous substances to be completely purged out from her system.” The next couple of days are expected to be very crucial in her recovery.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has ordered for a detailed investigation on the incident and the probe is expected to answer to all angles of the case.
Source: The Times Of India
Tags: Indrani Mukerjea Sheena Bora Sheena Bora Murder case
