Mumbai, August 27

A former Indian media executive has been arrested on suspicion of murdering her daughter for having an affair with her stepson, Mumbai police said today, in a case gripping India.

Indrani Mukerjea is accused, along with two others, of strangling Sheena Bora to death in 2012 before dumping her body in a forest in Maharashtra and setting it alight.

“We have arrested two accused, the other is her driver Shyam Rai. After they appeared in court we got custody until 31st August”, deputy police commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni told AFP.

Kulkarni said a third suspect, Sanjeev Khanna, reported to be a former husband of Mukerjea, had been arrested in Kolkata in West Bengal state for alleged involvement in the murder. “We are trying to get remand from a Kolkata court to bring him to Mumbai. We’re hoping he will arrive this afternoon,” Kulkarni said.

Mukerjea, who was a co-founder and a former executive with Mumbai-based television company INX Media, is married to ex-Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, believed to be her third husband.

Police believe the motive for the killing had been Indrani Mukerjea’s dislike of her daughter’s apparent relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea’s son from a previous marriage, Kulkarni said. “It was an honour killing because Sheena was having an affair with Rahul, which was not liked by Indrani.”