A special court on Sunday, 14 March, remanded Mumbai top cop Sachin Vaze to custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) till 25 March over the case related to explosives discovered in a car outside Mukesh Ambani’s house, Livelaw reported.
Vaze, who was earlier overseeing the case, was arrested on Saturday night after over 12 hours of questioning by the NIA.
Vaze was arrested after questioning related to the alleged links with Mansukh Hiren, the owner of the Scorpio that was found laden with explosives outside Ambani’s house.
He 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 or otherwise), 506(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation), 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of IPC, and 4(a)(b)(I)Explosive Substances Act 1908, ANI quoted NIA as saying.
The NIA spokesperson on Saturday night said that Vaze was arrested at 23:50 hours allegedly for “his role and involvement in placing explosives-laden vehicle near Carmichael road" on 25 February, PTI reported.
“I believe Sachin Waze is a very honest and capable officer. He has been arrested in connection with gelatin sticks that were found. One suspicious death also occurred. It’s Mumbai Police’s responsibility to investigate the matter. No central team was needed,” Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut told the news agency after the arrest.
Vaze’s arrest comes just a day after he moved for anticipatory bail in the Thane district and sessions court on Friday, following which the court refused to grant him interim protection and kept the plea for hearing on 19 March.
Vaze’s Alleged Involvement in the Case
In an FIR filed on 7 March, Hiren’s kin have alleged that Vaze was associated with the family for long before the car was found outside Ambani’s house. The family has alleged that the car was in Vaze’s possession for months before it was returned to Hiren and went missing the same day.
Vimala, Mansukh Hiren’s wife, had alleged in the FIR that Vaze was involved in the alleged conspiracy to frame her husband and had allegedly murdered him.
Vaze’s alleged association with Hiren had raked up a storm in the Maharashtra politics with the Devendra Fadnavis-led Opposition demanding for his immediate suspension and arrest and accusing the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of trying to shield Vaze for his links with the Shiv Sena.
After the Opposition upped the ante, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on 10 March announced that Vaze would be removed from the Crime Branch and posted to a different department.
The investigation into the recovery of explosives from the car near Antilla was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the ATS on 8 March.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI, Livelaw)
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