The Special NIA court on Sunday remanded assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to the National Investigation Agency’s custody till March 25 in connection with an explosives-laden SUV found near the residence of Mukesh Ambani.
Vaze is also under investigation for his alleged role in the suspicious death of businessman Mansukh Hiran.
Vaze was arrested on Saturday by NIA and was brought to a court in South Mumbai after taking him to a local hospital for his medical examination.
The prosecution asked for Vaze’s maximum custody for further investigation. The agency pleaded that the case has so far traveled by three agencies- Mumbai Crime Branch, ATS and later NIA. Hence they would want to probe the role played by the accused.
Waze was arrested under IPC sections 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance) 465 (forgery), 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal, etc with intent to commit forgery), 506(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation, 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Explosive Substances Act, the official said.
Earlier, a Thane Court refused anticipatory bail in the alleged murder case of Mansukh Hiren and the Antilia bomb scare probe. The court said that Mansukh Hiren’s wife has named the Mumbai Police officer in the FIR and that there is prima facie evidence against Vaze and hence custodial interrogation is required.
In her statement to the NIA, Mansukh Hiran’s wife had accused ‘encounter specialist’ Sachin Vaze of killing her husband and dumping his body in the creek.
On February 25, the SUV was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house in south Mumbai with explosives and a threat letter inside. Hiran had claimed that it had been stolen a week earlier, but the case got murky when he was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5.