NEW DELHI, Mar 14: A special court on Sunday remanded assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) till March 25 in connection with the recovery of an explosives laden car found abandoned next to Mukesh Ambani’s residence on February 25.
NIA’s spokesperson said Vaze was arrested at 11.50 pm on Saturday for his “role and involvement in placing explosives laden vehicle near Carmichael Road.”
The SUV car was found with 20 gelatin sticks on February 25 and the police said the car was stolen from Airoli-Mulund Bridge on February 18.
Vaze was arrested under sections 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 465 (punishment for forgery), 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal, etc., with intent to commit forgery punishable otherwise), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and The Explosive Substances Act.
The body of car’s owner Mansukh Hiren, an auto parts dealer, was found on March 5 in Kalwa creek. The case was transferred from Maharashtra Police to NIA on March 8. On March 12, a sessions court at Thane rejected Vaze’s pre arrest bail in Hiren’s murder.
Vaze is known as an ‘encounter specialist’ of the Mumbai police. He was suspended for 17 years after being arrested in the custodial death of a 27-year-old software engineer Khwaja Yunus. But he was granted bail after 58 days of being in custody. He was reinstated in June 2020 citing the requirement of officers in the force. He led the Raigad police team to arrest the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, in the case of death of architect Anvay Naik and was probing the television rating points manipulation case as a crime branch officer.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar dubbed the arrest of Vaze by the NIA as a “local” issue and refused to react further.
When asked how he viewed the arrest of a Mumbai police officer by the central agency, Pawar said, “The issue is local and not related to the state’s policies.”
The NCP chief had earlier intervened and spoken to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray when the BJP led by leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis sought his suspension. Earlier in the day, when asked if Pawar was upset with Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and sought his removal, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in Mumbai said, “Pawar is the guiding light of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). It was because of him that this (Maharashtra) government was formed.”
(Manas Dasgupta)