The mystery shrouding the recovery of a gelatin sticks’ laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion “Antilia” in south Mumbai on February 25 deepened on Friday as the vehicle owner was found dead in a creek near Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district.
The body of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiren, whose “stolen” vehicle had been used in the sensational crime, was recovered from the marshy Reti-Bunder creek Mumbra with the help of a crane by the local disaster management workers.
Hiren had reportedly been missing from his Thane home since Thursday.
The incident sparked a major controversy in the Maharashtra Assembly as former Chief Minister and leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis demanded the resignation of State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and rooted for the transfer of the case to the National Investigating Agency.
However, Deshmukh rejected Fadnavis’ demand for an NIA probe into the incident.
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”.
A day after the recovery of the car, the police had said the SUV — used in the crime —had been stolen from Vikroli in north-east Mumbai and the gelatin sticks found in the car were manufactured at Nagpur-based firm M/s Solar Explosives Ltd.
The police had said the Scorpio used in the crime had been stolen from a service road near the Vikhroli Airoli junction.
Hiren, the owner of the car, had told the police that his car broke down near Vikhroli-Airoli junction while he was on his way from Thane to Mumbai. The owner parked the car on the wayside of the road. On the following afternoon, when he returned to take the car for repairs, he found the vehicle was missing. He lodged a complaint with the Vikhroli police.
While an FIR was registered by the Gamdevi police station, the Crime Branch-CID led by Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze had launched a parallel probe into the incident.
Hiren’s body was recovered from the Mumbra creek around the time when the Opposition BJP in the State Assembly was demanding a NIA probe into the incident.
Raising the issue in the Assembly, Deshmukh said, “The prime witness in the case is dead. In fact, I demanded that he be given protection. We were apprehending that there was threat to his life...what has happened is fishy, serious...there are strange coincidences...we demand that there should be a NIA probe.”
Turning the needle of suspicions towards Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze who was investigating the case, Fadnavis said Hiren appeared to know Vaze, which bears out from his telephone records.
“After the car was found abandoned near Ambani’s home (on February 25), it was Vaze who reached the spot first and not the local Gamdevi police. He seized the car and also the letter. We were earlier told an Assistant Commissioner of Police will probe the incident. But Vaze was subsequently made in charge of the case. Why,” Fadnavis asked.
In a related development, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is understood to have sought a detailed report from Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on issues relating to the incident and the case.
Making a statement in the House, the Home Minister said the car belongs to one Sam Peter Newton, who had given it to Hiren’s automobile spare-parts company for doing the interior. “The car owner could not clear the dues so Hiren took the car,” he said.
Deshmukh said Vaze was not the Investigation Officer as was being claimed by the Leader of the Opposition, but Assistant Commissioner of Police Nitin Aluknare.
Contesting the Home Minister’s statement, Fadnavis said Hiren had said in his statement to police that he had purchased the car from Newton.
“There are several ifs and buts and even coincidences in the case. Hence the case needs to be probed thoroughly. We demand that the case be handed over to the NIA,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis said he would submit the evidence that he had and would write to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for an NIA probe into the case “The State Government appears to be protecting someone. Let the NIA investigate the case,” he said.
“There is no need for an NIA probe as the Maharashtra Police are capable. The Thane Police are capable and the Mumbai Police are capable,” Deshmukh said, as he rejected Fadnavis’ demand for an NIA probe.
Legislative Affairs Minister Anil Parab of Shiv Sena said the Opposition should have faith in the State police. “You are an ex-Chief Minister. You have handled the Home portfolio yourself. You have praised the police on several occasions in the past,” he told the LoP.
Questioning the neutrality of the NIA, senior Congress leader and former Speaker Nana Patole said in the Bhima-Koregaon case, the NIA took over the probe on its own and the State Government was never consulted.
BJP MLAs Girish Mahajan Sudhir Mungantiwar and Ashish Shelar, all former BJP Ministers, joined Fadnavis in clamour for an NIA probe into the case.
Alluding to references to Vaze made by Fadnavis, Deshmukh told the former Chief Minister “You are naming Vaze again and again...are you agitated that Vaze was the one who arrested (Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief) Arnab Goswami in the Anvay Naik suicide case...he was in (judicial) custody for seven days.”
“We have respect for NIA, CBI, ED and NCB...we also have respect for Maharashtra Police, CID and ATS,” Deshmukh said.
The Home Minister said it was now six months that the CBI was probing the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. “We have been asking, repeatedly asking the CBI about the outcome of the investigations but nothing has been said so far,” he pointed out.