In the fifth arrest in the twin explosive laden SUV planting and alleged Mansukh Hiran murder cases, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday took into custody Mumbai Crime branch officer Sunil Mane, after an intensive overnight grilling.
A 1995-batch Maharashtra police service officer who was the in-charge of Unit-11 of the Mumbai crime branch, Mane is the third Mumbai police officer to have been arrested in the twin sensational cases.
Earlier, the NIA had on March 13 arrested Sachin Vaze, an Assistant Police Inspector API heading the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Crime Branch-CID of Mumbai Police. On April 11, the central agency took into custody Assistant Police Inspector (API) Riyazuddin Kazi, who was directly working under Vaze.
Mane, who was called by the NIA for interrogation on Thursday night, was placed under the arrest in the early hours of Friday. Mane was later in the day produced before a Special NIA court, which remanded him to the investigation agency’s custody till April 28. The Special court also extended till May 5 the judicial remand of incarcerated Inspector Sachin Vaze.
In all, there have so far been five arrests in the twin explosive laden SUV planting and alleged Mansukh Hiran murder cases. Apart from three police officers, convicted Mumbai Police constable Vinayak B. Shinde (51) and a cricket bookie Naresh R. Gaur (31) are two other accused in the two cases.
Shinde, who has been convicted in the case involving the fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya on November 11, 2006, and Gaur are said to be accomplices of Vaze.
Maharashtra’s Anti Terrorism – which initially investigated the circumstances leading to the alleged murder of Hiran -- had on March 21 arrested convicted Shinde and Gaur in connection with Hiran’s alleged murder.
The arrest of Shinde and Gaur came a day after the Union Home Ministry asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the investigations into the murder of Hiran.
During the investigations that followed, the NIA seized from Shinde and Gaur two mobile phones, 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
The NIA is looking into Mane’s role in the planning of a Gelatin sticks’ laden Scorpio and a threatening letter inside the vehicle, in the vicinity of Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey residence “Antilia” on Carmichael Road in south Mumbai on February 25 and the subsequent alleged murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Huran. Hiran’s body was recovered from the marshy Reti-Bunder creek Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district on March 5.
Vaze was the first accused to have been arrested by the NIA which registered an FIR in the explosive-laden SUV recovery case on March 8.
Vaze had earlier this month created a sensation by making a written submission before the special NIA Court accusing Deshmukh and another Maharashtra Minister Anil Parab of asking him to Indulge in extortion for them.
Vaze, who was arrested on March 13 in connection with the gelatine sticks laden Scorpion recovery case, was earlier booked under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 465 (forgery) 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal) and 506 -2 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 4 (a)(b)(i) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
Vaze was subsequently booked under sections 16 (Punishment for Terror act) and 18 (Punishment for conspiracy etc) of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).