Manas Dasgupta
MUMBAI, Mar 25: Even as video records have been unearthed showing that the Maharashtra assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze knew the deceased auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran for long, the suspended police officer claimed in the court that he was being made a “scapegoat” by the National Investigation Agency.
However, ignoring his plea, the Mumbai court on Thursday further extended his custody with the NIA till April 3.
His remand with the investigating agency was extended after the NIA told the court that the arrested assistant sub inspector with the Mumbai Crime Intelligence Unit had a considerable amount of unexplained ammunition found in his house and he need to be questioned further on that. “We want the custody of the accused for further investigation,” the NIA told the court.
The NIA told the court that 62 bullets have been found from Vaze’s house which are unaccounted for, the investigators said. “Only 5 of the 30 bullets given for his service revolver have been found. The accused is not telling where the rest went,” the NIA added.
While initially Vaze was arrested in connection with the finding of the explosive laden Scorpio car near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, he was later put under arrest for his links and later alleged murder of the owner of the “missing” car Mansukh Hiran, the man who owned the SUV in which the explosives were found.
A video footage found in Mumbai’s Fort area claimed to show that Hiran had met Vaze on February 17 when he “handed over” his Scorpio key to Vaze and later filed a police complaint that his car was “missing.” The car was taken away from the highway by Vaze’s men and about a week later was found parked near “Antilia,” Ambani’s residence in Mumbai.
Vaze is also suspected of being involved in the death of Mansukh Hiran by the Anti-Terror Squad, which is investigating it. The 45-year-old auto parts dealer was found dead near a creek near Mumbai on March 5. He was reported missing a few days before that.
“We have taken blood samples of the accused for DNA. Samples of five seized vehicles have also been collected for DNA matching,” the NIA told the court today, accusing Vaze of attempting to destroy evidence.
The investigators also said they want to Vaze to face the two men arrested in the Mansukh Hiran murder case.
“I have assisted in the investigation so far. Do not send me to police custody again,” Vaze told the court.
His counsel argued that the NIA has to satisfy the court regarding the addition of anti-terror law UAPA in this case. Claiming that the evidence was inadequate, the advocate pointed out that only gelatin was recovered from the Scorpio car. Gelatin alone cannot be used as an explosive unless it is used along with a detonator or any other catalyst. “So gelatin alone is not sufficient to apply UAPA,” he said.
The investigative agencies said Mansukh Hiran had left his Scorpio car on the Vikhroli Highway on February 17. A CCTV footage of the same evening — around 8.25 pm — from the Fort area shows the businessman crossing a road and getting into a black Mercedes waiting at the signal with its hazard lights on.
Investigators say Vaze was driving the Mercedes and suspect that this was the meeting during which Mansukh Hiran handed over the keys of the Scorpio to him.
Mansukh Hiran had claimed that he had parked his Scorpio on the highway in the Vikhroli area of central Mumbai and hired a taxi to reach Crawford Market in south Mumbai. The next day, he realised that his SUV was stolen.
His statement to the police was recorded by Vaze while he was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit. But at the time, he did not record his February 17 meeting with Hiran.
A week later, the Scorpio was found abandoned on Carmichael Road, around 1.4 km from Antilia, Ambani’s 27-storey home in south Mumbai, on March 4. A bomb disposal squad found 20 gelatin sticks in it, and a letter addressed to the Reliance chairman and Nita Ambani.
Mansukh Hiran, 45, who was also an auto parts dealer, was found dead near a creek near Mumbai on March 5. He was reported missing a few days before that.
The Thane-based businessman had earlier alleged that he was being harassed by police officers and journalists and had written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and the Mumbai police chief, demanding protection.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terror squad, which was investigating the matter, has claimed that Vaze was involved in the death of Mansukh Hiran. Vaze, who had earlier quit the police force and joined the Shiv Sena — was reinstated after the Covid outbreak.
Even as the allegations and counter allegations kept flying about who ordered Vaze’s reinstatement in the police force after serving 16 years in suspension following an alleged encounter death in 2004, the former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, forced by the Supreme Court, approached the Bombay high Court on Thursday seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged conducts of misdeeds and corruption against his police boss, the Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.
The Supreme Court had refused to entertain his same plea on Wednesday and asked him to approach the Bombay High Court instead.
Singh, who was shunted out as Mumbai Police Commissioner in the wake of the Antilia bomb scare case, has also challenged the government’s order transferring him from the post.
The ex-Mumbai top cop met a setback for his case yesterday, when the Supreme Court refused to entertain his plea on the same and asked him to approach the Bombay High Court instead. The top court had said that the allegations and counter-allegations between Singh and Deshmukh are “serious” but the case should be heard by the High Court first.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, led by the Shiv Sena, the NCP, and the Congress, has been facing turmoil after Singh alleged that the state’s home minister gave a target to cops to collect ₹100 crore every month.
In his petition to the Supreme Court yesterday, Singh had claimed that the Maharashtra home minister “pressurised” him to probe the role of certain BJP leaders and to “somehow implicate” them in the case of the death of independent MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli Mohan Delkar who allegedly committed suicide in a Mumbai hotel last month.
Noting that the High Court is competent enough to deal with this issue, the top court had pointed out that the concerned parties were “quite hunky-dory” in the past but were now making allegations against each other after a fallout.
Singh had reportedly written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray claiming Deshmukh’s involvement in severe “malpractices”. The Maharashtra home minister, for his part, refuted all the allegations made against him by former Mumbai top cop. Deshmukh said that the police officer made these false allegations to save himself from legal action.
Even as the opposition BJP had raised the demand for resignation of Deshmukh and a party delegation on Thursday called on the governor Koshiyari demanding that Deshmukh be sacked if he refused to reign, his political friends have so far stood by him. While his NCP chief Sharad Pawar has turned down the demand for his resignation claiming that Singh’s allegations against him were “totally baseless,” the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has so far maintained a studied silence and the Congress too has refused to budge to the BJP pressure.