Antilia case: Charge sheet filed against 10 accused
MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze and others arrested in connection with the Antilia explosives scare and subsequent murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran earlier this year.
NIA superintendent of police (SP) Vikram Khalate and special prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves submitted around a 10,000page charge sheet in the special court.
The agency has cited in all around 200 witnesses to bring home the guilt of the accused. Statements of 20 important witnesses have been recorded before metropolitan magistrates and they are declared by the federal agency as “protected witnesses.”
Special NIA judge Prashant R Sitre then directed the agency to serve the copies of the charge sheet to the accused personally and take their acknowledgement. The court also granted the NIA permission to continue the investigation. “Today (September 3), NIA, filed a charge sheet in NIA special court, Mumbai under relevant sections of the Indian
Penal Code, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against the 10 arrested persons,” said NIA in a statement. “During the investigation, incriminating evidence came to fore against the 10 arrested accused involved in various stages of conspiracy of placing explosive-laden Mahindra Scorpio vehicle, its theft and commission of murder of Mansukh Hiran,” said the statement.
Others arrested in the case are Vaze’s former colleague at the criminal intelligence unit of Mumbai crime branch, Riyazuddin Kazi; Vaze’s friend and dismissed crime branch inspector Sunil Mane; cricket bookie Naresh Gor; and dismissed police constable Vinayak Shinde, an accused in Lakhan Bhaiya encounter case.
Earlier on August 30, the special NIA court had rejected NIA’S demand for custody of
Vaze and Mane in connection with the Antilia bomb scare and Hiran murder cases. Presently, both Vaze and Mane are in judicial custody at Taloja prison. Vaze has been admitted to Surana Sethia Hospital at Bhiwandi for open-heart surgery. The case pertains to the recovery of an explosives-laden green Mahindra Scorpio near Antilia, the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, on Carmichael Road on February 25. A note threatening to kill certain members of his family was also recovered. On March 5, the body of the vehicle owner Mansukh Hiran, was found in a creek at Reti Bunder.