Sougat Mukherjee Widow Seeks Indian PM Support to Sue Scottish Authorities Over 1997 Murder Accusation
Sapna Mukherjee, widow of Sougat Mukherjee, is seeking the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to support her family's legal action against Scottish authorities. Mr Mukherjee, a businessman, died in Mumbai in 2023 at the age of 44, nearly four years after the actual killer of Tracey Wilde was convicted in Glasgow.
Mrs Mukherjee contends that her husband's life was "irreversibly destroyed" by being wrongly identified as a suspect. She is pursuing compensation and an official Indian government inquiry into the circumstances that led to the accusation.
Scottish police have declined to comment on ongoing legal proceedings. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) previously stated that all reports of alleged criminal conduct are meticulously reviewed, with action taken if sufficient evidence of a crime exists and cases are continuously monitored.
Mr Mukherjee's ordeal began in October 2014 when Indian police informed him he was wanted in connection with an unsolved murder in Glasgow. His subsequent arrest in January 2015 led to a three-week detention in Mumbai Prison and a protracted extradition battle. Despite his eventual exoneration via DNA evidence, his family maintains he never recovered from the associated stigma, suffering severe clinical depression. He died on 17 January 2023 from acute liver cirrhosis.
Tracey Wilde, 21, was found deceased in her Glasgow flat on 25 November 1997. Mr Mukherjee, then a 19-year-old student, left Scotland three months later. Years after his return to India, and having established a career, the accusation resurfaced, leading to his public branding as a murder suspect. Zhi Min Chen, 44, was ultimately identified through DNA and convicted of Ms Wilde's murder in April 2019, receiving a sentence that was later reduced to 16 years.
Mrs Mukherjee’s letter to the Indian Prime Minister highlights the devastating impact on their children, Sreshtha, 21, Shlok, 18, and Shreya, 16. She asserts her husband became unemployable and the family faced ostracism, financial ruin, and emotional trauma. She questions the four-year delay in his exoneration, given the lack of a DNA match, and seeks governmental backing for financial redress and an inquiry into the flawed investigation.
