Sheena Bora murder case: Witness cop reveals he was told to locate kin of Indrani, Peter Mukherjea

Indrani Mukherjea and Peter Mukherjea (File)

In the Sheena Bora murder case, the fifth witness began deposing Monday before the special CBI court. The witness, Nitin Alaknure, was a police inspector at Khar police station when the murder case was being investigated by the Mumbai police in 2015.

Alaknure told the court that in 2012, he was working in the anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai crime branch. He said that at the end of April 2012, he received a call from the then additional commissioner of police, Deven Bharti, who asked him to note down a phone number. “He told me that the number belongs to a relative of Indrani and Peter Mukerjea and directed me to find out the present location of the relative,” he told the court. He said he had informed the policemen concerned to find out the location but since the number was switched off, the location could not be traced. He further told the court that Bharti had again called him 1-2 days later for some other work and informed him that the relative of Indrani and Peter had been traced.

Alaknure told the court that in 2015, when the investigation of the Sheena Bora murder was being carried out by Khar police, Bharti had informed him that the phone number was connected to this case. As per the CBI probe, Bharti was approached by Indrani and Peter in the last week of April 2012 to help locate Sheena. The CBI alleges that after Sheena’s murder in April 2012, the couple approached Bharti to show that they were looking for Sheena.

The witness told the court Monday that Rahul Mukerjea, Peter’s son, had approached them to give evidence, including text messages between him, Indrani and Peter. He gave details regarding a panchnama drawn at that time when this evidence was collected.