MUMBAI, Nov 8: Security has been beefed up around the residence of India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani after a taxi driver informed the Mumbai police that two unidentified persons had been “inquiring about Ambani’s address.”
Official sources said the security around Antilia was strengthened and the CCTV footage around Ambani’s residence were thoroughly checked after the police received the call from the taxi driver. “We received a call from a taxi driver that two people had approached him, asking for the location Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia,” the police told the media today.
“Both men asking for the address had a large bag in their hand, after which the taxi driver immediately informed the Mumbai Police about this,” the police told reporters. The driver’s statement was being recorded and a senior officer was monitoring the situation, the police said.
This is the second time in the year the Ambani residence was facing security scare. The heightened security for the country’s richest man comes after the huge security scare in February, when a Scorpio van laden with explosives was found meters away from his house. The vehicle was found carrying 20 gelatin sticks and a letter addressed to Mukesh and Nita Ambani, the details of which have not been released. The car, found to be stolen, was later traced to a man who was murdered.
The investigation into the matter — still ongoing — has uncovered a conspiracy with alleged links to a police officer. Officer Sachin Waze has since been sacked and arrested for links to the murder of the car owner, Mansukh Hiren.
The National Investigation Agency, which took over the probe, also found that Sachin Waze had procured the explosives and parked the SUV near Mukesh Ambani’s house, reports said. Ambani and his family live in one of the world’s most luxurious homes – a 27-storey, 400,000 sq feet building called Antilia in south Mumbai’s posh Cumballa Hill area — since 2012.
(Manas Dasgupta)