Widow of Sougat Mukherjee seeks legal action over wrongful murder allegation

Highlights:

• Widow seeks Indian government support for compensation and inquiry
• Mukherjee was falsely accused in a 1997 Glasgow murder case
• Cleared in 2019 after DNA evidence identified the real killer
• Family says his life was “irreversibly destroyed”

THE WIDOW of Sougat Mukherjee, an Indian businessman falsely accused in a 1997 murder case in Glasgow, has sought support from Narendra Modi for legal action against Scottish authorities.

Mukherjee died in Mumbai on 17 January 2023 at the age of 44, nearly four years after the real killer of Tracey Wilde was convicted. His wife Sapna said his life was “irreversibly destroyed” after he was named a suspect and has called for compensation and an inquiry by the Indian government, BBC reported.

Tracey Wilde, 21, was killed at her flat in Glasgow on 24 November 1997. Mukherjee, then a student in Glasgow, returned to India months later.

In 2014, he was informed by police in India that he was a suspect. He was arrested in January 2015 and spent three weeks in Mumbai prison before being named publicly.

His name was cleared in May 2019 after DNA evidence linked the crime to Zhi Min Chen, who admitted the offence and was jailed.

Sapna told BBC Scotland News her husband developed severe clinical depression after being accused. She said: “The world needs to know that an innocent man's life was completely and irreversibly destroyed, and that his family is still suffering the consequences today.”

She said: “He died as he feared he would - having lost everything, through no fault of his own.”

Sapna has asked the Indian government to support a compensation claim against Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and to order an inquiry.

Police Scotland said it does not comment on legal proceedings. Prosecutors said cases are kept under review and action is taken if there is sufficient evidence.