Antilia bomb scare: Charges framed against 10 accused

A special NIA court on Saturday framed charges against ten persons, including former policemen Sachin Waze and Pradeep Sharma, in the 2021 Antilia bomb scare and businessman Mansukh Hiran murder case.

The accused will face trial for offences under the Indian Penal Code related to murder, extortion, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy as well as relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosive Substances Act.

Special National Investigation Agency court judge Chakor Baviskar framed the charges after the accused pleaded not guilty.

Besides Waze and Sharma, the other accused in the case are Riyazuddin Kazi, Sunil Mane, Vinayak Shinde, Anand Jadhav, Satish Tirupati Mothkuri, Manish Vasantbhai Soni, Naresh Gaur and Santosh Shelar.

Kazi, Mane and Shinde are also former policemen.

The prosecution has accused all ten persons of forming a “terrorist gang” and entering into a criminal conspiracy between February and March 2021.

An SUV with explosives inside was found near billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s south Mumbai residence ‘Antilia’ on February 25, 2021.

Businessman Mansukh Hiran, who claimed that the SUV had been stolen from his possession, was found dead in a creek in neighbouring Thane on March 5, 2021.

A few days later, Waze, once known as an ‘encounter specialist’ police officer, was arrested in the case.

According to the NIA, the accused allegedly posted a message on the Telegram channel ‘Jaishish-Ul-Hind’ containing the threat “Agle baar connect ho kar ayega ” (next time the bomb’s wires will be connected) to create an impression that a terrorist organisation was involved in the incident.

The NIA’s draft charges, filed earlier before the court, identified Waze as the mastermind of the crime. His motive was to terrorise wealthy individuals and extort money to meet a Rs 100-crore monthly target allegedly set by a high-ranking political figure while simultaneously attempting to regain his “lost glory” as a “super cop”, the central agency said.

Further, he conspired with other accused to eliminate businessman Mansukh Hiran because Hiran refused to take the blame for the explosives and was considered a “weak link” who could expose the conspiracy, the NIA alleged.

Pradeep Sharma, another former ‘encounter specialist’ officer of Mumbai Police, allegedly played a key role in the conspiracy to abduct and kill Hiran.

He was involved in the procurement of SIM cards and had directed co-accused Shelar, Jadhav, Mothkuri and Soni to dump Hiran’s body into the Thane creek, the NIA claimed.

To cover up the crime, the accused allegedly destroyed critical evidence including digital video recorders (DVRs), CCTV footage and the victim’s mobile phone.

The operation was partially funded through extortion, the draft charges stated.

The conspirators used “benami” SIM cards and unregistered mobile phones to conceal their identities, and the policemen among them created fake alibis by staging midnight raids and preparing “nil panchnamas” to show that they were on duty away from the crime scenes, the prosecution said.

While Sharma, Kazi, Gaur and Mane are out on bail, Waze and the remaining five accused continue to be in judicial custody.