MUMBAI, Dec. 2 -- A special CBI court in Mumbai has partly allowed the agency's application to re-examine former investigating officer Nitin Alankure in the Sheena Bora murder case, seven years after his chief examination was recorded. The order was passed on November 28 by special judge Dr J P Darekar. Alankure, examined as a prosecution witness in 2018, had deposed on the seizure of two passports of Sheena Bora, a mobile handset recovered from witness Rahul Mukerjea, and the preparation of CDs containing extracted phone data. His chief examination was closed the same year, and the witness was later summoned only for cross-examination. The CBI sought to reopen the chief examination, arguing that certain documents and articles-including the passports, mobile phone, related CDs, forwarding letters and marked exhibits-needed to be shown to the witness. Defence counsel for Indrani Mukerjea and co-accused opposed the move as an attempt to fill lacunae after a decade-long delay. Judge Darekar rejected the agency's request to set aside the earlier closure of the chief examination but permitted limited re-examination, holding that Section 138 of the Evidence Act empowered the prosecution to seek clarification on matters arising during cross-examination. The court noted that the defence would retain the right to cross-examine the witness further on any new material introduced. The court permitted re-examination on the documents while refusing to reopen the chief testimony, and directed the parties to act accordingly....