In a significant development that may provide insight into the motive behind the planting of an explosive laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) finally detained ‘mystery woman’, who had been spotted with arrested police constable Sachin Vaze near a five star hotel in south Mumbai in mid February.
After an intense search lasting for more than a week, the NIA sleuths zeroed in on the woman --- who has been identified as Meera George -- at the Mumbai airport and brought her to their office in south Mumbai for questioning. The investigators raided Meera’s flat at Mira Road, a far-flung northern suburb of Mumbai.
Meera’s detention came on the heels carried out by the NIA at a posh restaurant at Girgaum in south Mumbai in connection with the SUV recovery and the subsequent alleged murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran,
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the woman was engaged converting black money into white. The woman had been spotted along with Vaze in the CCTV footage of 5-star hotel Trident with a cash counting machine. The footage showed that as many as 5 bags were checked in at hotel Trident on February 16, nine days prior to an abandoned gelatine sticks laden Scorpio was recovered Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion “Antilia” on Carmichael Road in south Mumbai.
The CCTV footage examined by the NIA showed Vaze had entered the hotel first and then the lady followed him. The mystery woman had reportedly stayed in the hotel for two days. Vaze, the investigations have revealed, had stayed at the same five-star hotel for five days.
The investigations have revealed that Vaze’s stay at the five-star hotel had been funded by a businessman running a tour and travels firm. To meet the hotel accommodation and other things, the businessman concerned had paid Rs 13 lakh to Vaze, who had allegedly offered to settle a pending case at Kanjurmarg police station in north-east Mumbai.
Vaze, who reportedly used a fake ID card for his stay at the hotel, was spotted entering the hotel in an Innova on February 16 and leaving the hotel in a Land Cruiser on February 20.
The woman, who had joined Vaze at the hotel during his stay there, was seen carrying a note counting machine with her. One such counting machine was seized from a Mercedes Benz car seized by the investigators early this month.
The NIA sleuths have so far seized six high-end cars in connection with the twin cases of SUV seizure and the alleged murder of Thane based businessman Mansukh Hiran, whose body was recovered from the Reti Bunder creek area at Mumbra-Kalwa on March 5.
The number of high-end cars seized by the NIA has gone up to six. The cars seized include: Mitsubishi Outlander, a Scorpio, Innova, Prado and two Mercedes Benz.
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.
On March 28, the NIA recovered several pieces of evidence, including two CPUs of computers, two number plates of a vehicle with the same registration number, two DVRs and a laptop, from the bed of Mithi River in north-central Mumbai, which allegedly link the arrested police officer to the two sensational crimes.
Vaze has been 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.
The NIA also invoked sections 16 (Punishment for Terror act) and 18 (Punishment for conspiracy etc) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against Vaze.Vaze is the first accused to have been arrested by the NIA which registered an FIR in the explosive-laden SUV recovery case on March 8.
Apart from the SUV recovery case, the NIA is also investigating the alleged Manshukh Hiran murder case.
It may be recalled that on March 24, a Thane court a Thane city court asked the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police to stop investigations into the alleged murder of SUV recovery case-linked businessman Mansukh Hiran and hand over the case to the NIA.
Vaze’s two alleged accomplices Vinayak B. Shinde (51) and a cricket bookie Naresh R. Gaur (31) – who had been arrested by the ATS – are currently in the cusrtody of the NIA in connection with Hiran’s alleged murder.
Shinde is a dismissed policeman, who has been convicted in the case involving the fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya. Bhaiya was killed in a fake encounter on November 11, 2006. In 2013, a Mumbai sessions court had awarded life sentences to 21 people, including 13 Mumbai Police personnel, convicted in the case.
Shinde has been on parole. The investigations by the ATS have revealed that Shinde was in regular touch with Vaze and helped the latter in his activities.