Sheena Bora murder case: Court records testimony of senior Mumbai cop

The CBI counsel examined senior inspector Nitin Alakhnure, who was the inspector attached to Khar police station when the incident came to light.

The prosecution on Monday recorded the testimony of senior inspector Nitin Alakhnure in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case. Alakhnure told the court that Deven Bharti, the then additional commissioner, had asked him to trace a number belonging to Peter and Indrani Mukerjee’s relative.

Sheena Bora.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel examined Alakhnure, who was the inspector attached to Khar police station when the incident came to light.

“In 2012, I was serving in the anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai crime branch while Bharti was the additional commissioner of the department. In the last week of April, Bharti called me and directed me to note down a mobile number. He said it belongs to the relative of Indrani and Peter and asked me to trace its present location,” Alakhnure told the court.

“I called the X Project office, the technical assistance cell of the Mumbai crime branch, and asked them to trace the number,” the officer said adding that the X Project office said that they were unable to trace the number as it was switched off.

As per Alakhnure’s testimony, he relayed the information to Bharti. Two days later, Bharti called him and said that the relative had been traced.

The officer also shed light on the events of 2015 when he was assisting inspector Dinesh Kadam, in the murder probe at Khar police station. It was during that time when Bharti told him that the number he had asked him to trace is related to this case. “Rahul Mukerjee showed up at the police station with two passports of Bora along with a phone containing a memory card but no SIM card. The phone contained messages sent to and received from Peter and Indrani apart from recordings of his conversations with them, Rahul told me,” Alakhnure testified. He also said that Rahul identified four voices in the recordings - his, Peter’s, Indrani’s and that of a person named Kishor.

The officer also said that he recorded statements of five witnesses during the investigation.