A four-member team of forensic doctors that conducted the post-mortem on late Mansukh Hiren -- whose body was recovered from the Mumbra creek near Thane on Friday -- reserved its opinion on Saturday, even as the Shiv Sena said that “it is wrong to politicise his death and cast aspersions on the MVA government”.
A day after 45-year-old Hiren’s body was recovered from the marshy Reti-Bunder creek Mumbra with the help of a crane by the local disaster management workers, the four-team that conducted the autopsy reserved its opinion on the cause of death, while his viscera has been kept in reserve while his viscera has been preserved for forensic analysis.
The post-mortem on Hiren’s body was conducted at the Rajiv Gandhi Medical College & Shivaji Hospital, Kalwa, on Friday night. Among other things, the post-mortem report said that “Spine, Spinal intact, not opened”.
Hiren, a Thane-based businessman whose “stolen” SUV with 20 gelatin sticks was recovered by the police near Industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion “Antilia” in south Mumbai on February 25, hit the headlines after his body was found in mysterious circumstances on Friday afternoon. Hiren had reportedly been from missing from his Thane home since Thursday.
It may be recalled that the police had recovered 20 gelatin sticks and a letter were recovered from what was later described as Mahindra Scorpio that was found abandoned in the vicinity of Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey residence “Antilia” on Carmichael Road in south Mumbai.
The letter recovered from the car had among other things carried a message: “Ye to sirf ek trailer hai. Neeta Bhabhi, Mukesh Bhaiyya, family... ye to sirf ek jhalak hai. Agli baar ye saaman pura hokar tumhare pass aayega, aur pura intezaam ho gaya hai”.
Meanwhile, ruling Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said: “It is wrong to politicise his (Hiren’s) death and cast aspersions on the state government at a time when there are doubts whether Mansukh's death was a suicide or murder. He was an important witness in the case”.
Raut said that the issue involved prestige and image of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and it was essential for the State Home department to unearth the truth in the case.
“The Home department should unearth the truth at the earliest. It is important for the prestige and image of the MVA government,” Raut said.While rejecting the Opposition BJP’s demand for an NIA probe into Hiren’s death, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced the transfer of the investigations into the case from the Mumbai Crime Branch to the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
“If the state government were to hand over the case to the NIA as demanded by the Opposition would not have meant that it would be solved immediately. The State Home Minister has handed over the case to the ATS, which is capable of solving it. Let us have faith in ATS,” he said.