A special NIA court on Tuesday remanded till April 7 a convicted constable and a bookie arrested earlier by Maharashtra’s Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the extended custody of the NIA in the case involving the alleged murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, even as the NIA seized a white Mitsubishi Outlander allegedly owned by arrested Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze.
After hearing the submissions made by the Prosecution, the Special Court extended the remand of convicted Mumbai Police constable Vinayak B. Shinde (51) and a cricket bookie Naresh R. Gaur (31), till April 7.
Shinde and Gaud were arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on March 21 a day after the Union Home Ministry asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the investigations into the murder of Hiran, whose body was recovered from the marshy Reti-Bunder creek Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district on March 5.
While seeking 10 day custody of Shinde and Gaud, NIA Special Public Prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves told the court that the investigating agency had seized two mobile, one iPhone, 7 SIM cards, a blank cover of SIM card, a note with 14 mobile numbers mentioned including 5 in the name of arrested-suspected cop and prime accused Sachin Vaze with 'Ok' written (for activation) beside them.
Gonsalves also informed the court that Gaur had given those 5 numbers to co-accused Shinde who in turn gave it to Vaze.
These numbers, the SPP said, were allegedly used for the conspiracy and crime pertaining to the explosive laden SUV Scorpio planting case and the subsequent alleged murder of Hiran, whose body was recovered from the Mumbra creek on March 5.
The SPP told the court that Vaze and Shinde were present when the conspiracy was hatched, and Gaur had made a confession to this effect, after which the NIA recovered a laptop, DVRs and other materials which were fished out from the bed of Mithi River on March 28.
Gonsalves said that the investigators were yet to find two of the total 14 SIM cards that emerged in the probe. “We want to confront the accused trio with each other and unravel the full conspiracy of the two cases even as the NIA sleuths inch closer to cracking the motive behind these sensational crimes,” the SPP told the court.
In a related development, the NIA sleuths traced white Mitsubishi Outlander --registered in Vaze’s name – near a building compound at Kamothe in Navi Mumbai. The seizure came after the local people complained about the abandoned SUV.
With the seizure of Mitsubishi Outlander, the number of high-end vehicles seized by the NIA has gone up to six. Earlier, the NIA had seized a Scorpio, Innova, Prado and two Mercedes.
The investigators suspect that some of seized vehicles had been used to carry out reconnaissance of the site near Ambani’s residence where a Scorpio laden with 20 gelatin sticks was recovered on February 25.
