The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday claimed before the Bombay high court that former police officer Pradeep Sharma was the main conspirator in the "cold-blooded murder" of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was considered a weak link in the "larger conspiracy of terrorising" the family of industrialist Mukesh Ambani.
The NIA is already probing the case related to the recovery of a Scorpio SUV, parked near Ambani's residence 'Antilia', with gelatin sticks and has arrested an assistant police inspector, Sachin Waze.
A Thane court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to stop its investigation into the death of businessman Mansukh Hiran and hand over case records to the National Investigation Agency immediately.
Reacting to Waze's claims, Fadnavis, who heads the Home department, assured to conduct a proper inquiry.
Former Mumbai police officer Pradeep Sharma has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay high court verdict convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment in a 2006 fake encounter case.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to former Mumbai police officer Pradeep Sharma, who was arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran.
The central agency had earlier arrested four persons, including two Mumbai police officers -- Sachin Waze and Riyaz Kazi -- in connection with these cases.
The agency filed an affidavit opposing the bail plea of dismissed police officer Sachin Waze, a prime accused in the cases related to the Antilia bomb scare and subsequent killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran.
Besides Waze, former 'encounter specialist' Pradeep Sharma and a few other former police personnel are also accused in the case.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Saturday granted bail to Naresh Gaur, a cricket bookie, arrested for his alleged role in the Antilia bomb scare and businessman Mansukh Hiran murder case but stayed the order after the prosecution prayed that they wanted to challenge it before a higher court.
Former police officer Sachin Waze, an accused in the Antilia bomb scare-Mansukh Hiran murder case, on Friday moved an application before a special court here seeking permission for placing him under 'house custody' for recovery post an open heart surgery.
A special court in Mumbai on Friday granted bail to dismissed police officer Sachin Waze in an alleged money laundering case linked to former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh.
The ATS will oppose the anticipatory bail application of Sachin Waze in Thane sessions court today.
Two other accused in the case -- suspended police constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gor -- were remanded to 14-day judicial custody by the court.
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday allowed former police officer Sachin Waze's plea to shift him to a private hospital in Mumbai for treatment of his heart ailment and surgery.
The agency has not done an "in- depth" investigation, it said.
Mansukh Hiran was subsequently killed as Waze thought him to be the 'weak link' in the conspiracy, the NIA stated.
The court held that though the gelatin sticks planted near Antilia, the Ambani residence, were not connected to a detonator, it was sufficient to create terror in the minds of people.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who has been declared a 'proclaimed offender' by a court in Mumbai, on Wednesday said he was in Chandigarh and would visit Mumbai soon.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday took an accused arrested in the Mansukh Hiran murder case to the creek where his body was found, and also detained a person from Gujarat who had provided them SIM cards, officials said.
The Supreme Court on Monday granted three weeks interim bail to former police officer Pradeep Sharma, who was arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said the National Investigation Agency taking over the case of a vehicle laden with explosives being found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence in Mumbai suggests something was 'fishy'.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Wednesday that police officer Sachin Vaze will be removed from the Crime Branch and posted in some other department.
A special court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected dismissed police officer Sachin Waze's plea for `default' bail in the case of the SUV with explosives found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence, and gave the NIA one more month to file a charge sheet.
The probe team is likely to record his statement, the sources said, adding that zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Avinash Ambure was present at the police station.
Hiran's body was found in a creek in Thane district on March 5.
Justice Dangre said she would not be able to hear the plea due to "personal reasons".
The one-member panel, to be headed by judge Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal (retired), is given the time of six months to submit its report to the state government, an official order said.
Mumbai police also asked its counterparts in Navi Mumbai to investigate how the two managed to speak to each other and that too for so long.
"White-collar" crimes like this harm the country's economy and it can not ignore the statement of dismissed police officer and accused-turned-approver Sachin Waze in the case, the court said.
Deshmukh's plea was listed for hearing before Justice Revati Mohite Dere. But when the matter was called out, Justice Dere said "not before me," indicating that she would not be hearing it.
A single-member commission probing the allegations of corruption levelled by senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Friday directed Singh to appear before it on November 29.
It is not clear if it was the same Innova that was following the explosives-laden Scorpio before the latter was parked near Ambani's residence in south Mumbai on February 25.
I went to the NIA office on my own and was arrested, the police officer said, adding he had not confessed to anything.
The former police chief also said that the Home Minister had on several occasions instructed police officers on how to handle cases and file charges.
The National Investigation Agency arrested Waze on Saturday night in connection with its probe into the recovery of a Scorpio containing 20 gelatin sticks near Mukesh Ambani's home on February 25.
Troubles mounted for Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze, who has been facing heat in the murder case of businessman Mansukh Hiran, as a sessions court in Maharashtra's Thane district has refused to grant him interim bail and noted that there was prima facie evidence and material against him.
During the search with the help of divers, the NIA also recovered routers, computer cartridges and other materials from the river.
Reinstated in service in June 2020, he was handling several high-profile cases, including the TRP rigging scam, fake social media followers case and a car scam involving Dilip Chhabria.
The recovered some "incriminating" documents and electronic evidence such as laptop, I-pad and mobile phones from Waze's office there, the official said.
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