FaceTime ID "Balaji Kurkure" For Parambir Singh, Ex Top Cop: Probe

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who is being investigated in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and murder of businessman Mansukh Hiren, allegedly used FaceTime ID 'Balaji Kurkure' to communicate through his phone, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, has reportedly been told.

During the investigation, an intelligence officer told the NIA that the ID on Param Bir Singh's iPhone was created in his office in April. The ID was named 'Balaji Kurkure' because a packet of the brand's snack was kept in Param Bir Singh's office when it was created, stated a chargesheet.

In his statement to the NIA, the intelligence officer said that as there was no network inside Param Bir Singh's DG Home Guard office, the person who was activating the Facetime ID came outside to enter the ID and password. "I typed the password, the first name was Kurkure and the last name Balaji was used to create the iPhone ID. He used this name because at that time Balaji Kurkure pack was kept in the office," the officer said.

The NIA has written to Apple - the maker of iPhone - in connection with the investigation into the death of Mansukh Hiren - the businessman who owned the car in which the gelatin sticks were planted near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in February this year - to look into several email IDs and accounts in connection with the probe.

The probe agency has been trying to piece together several online accounts to unearth the conspiracy around Mansukh Hiren's death. The NIA believes sacked police officer Sachin Waze and former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma were the key conspirators in the case.

The NIA has recorded the statement of the intelligence officer in connection with the online accounts it has been investigating.

The intelligence officer is also learned to have corroborated the fact that a cyber expert was paid Rs 5 lakh to fudge a report and state that a terror outfit, Jaish-Ul-Hind, was behind the planting of explosives (gelatin sticks) near Mr Ambani's residence, Antilia.

The report, the cyber expert said, was made at the request of Mr Singh, who told him it would be shared with the NIA. The report was meant to be confidential as the Delhi Police was also investigating the role of the terror outfit in another case, but it got leaked the next day.

While the NIA has not been clear on Param Bir Singh's role in the conspiracy, if any, the chargesheet contains several witness statements that point that the former Mumbai top cop was involved in propagating the claim that a terror outfit was behind placing explosives near Mr Ambani's home, a theory that was rubbished by the NIA. The statements of other witnesses also establish that Param Bir Singh met the accused - former encounter specialist police officer Pradeep Sharma and Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze - a day after Mansukh Hiren's death.

On February 25 this year, an SUV with gelatin sticks was found at Carmichael Road, near the residence of Mukesh Ambani. The car belonged to Mansukh Hiren whose body was later found in the Kalwa creek in Thane.

Sachin Waze has been named as the prime conspirator in the case of planting the explosives and the subsequent murder of Mansukh Hiren. Mr Waze was known to be close to Param Bir Singh and had direct access to him despite being just an Assistant Police Inspector.