Mumbai; 09 Sep 2021 (UMMN): Sachin Waze, an encounter specialist and now dismissed police officer is found to be the mastermind behind planting of explosives in a vehicle near Mukesh Ambani’s residence on February 25, wanted to reestablish Himself as a ‘Supercop’ and to extort money from the industrialist.
Waze posted a message on the Telegram showing 'Jaish-ul-Hind' taking responsibility for planting the explosives.
“The post on Telegram… appears to be a deliberate attempt to add credibility to the above said act of terror and the murder of Hiran was a direct outcome of the said act of terror,” the NIA chargesheet says.
The plot allegedly involved five serving and retired cops including erstwhile encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma.
According to The Times of India, Waze himself drove the explosive-laden vehicle and parked it near Ambani’s bungalow. The driver of the police vehicle that accompanied him was unaware about the conspiracy and was told it was a secret operation.
Later, Waze was the first to reach the spot and got the investigations transferred to himself so that he could vitiate the entire probe, as part of a well-organised conspiracy.
The next day when the police driver saw the news, he was shocked, but kept silent as Waze threatened him against disclosing anything.
Waze had booked a room for 100 nights in Hotel Oberoi in the fictitious name of Sushant Khamkar. He thought it was a safe place for planning and implementation of the plot.
On Waze’s instruction, Hiran had earlier filed a false case with Vikhroli police that on February 17, his Scorpio was stolen. Waze had driven the vehicle and brought it to his own housing society in Thane. Hiran, however, refused to play along after a point, which prompted Waze and his accomplices to eliminate him. NIA said there were two meetings on March 2 and 3 in the police commissioner’s office in which inspector Sunil Mane and former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma were present reported The Times of India.
The chargesheet also speaks in detail about Hiran’s murder. On March 3, Waze handed over a bag containing cash and a SIM card to Sharma at his PS Foundation office in Andheri. Sharma, in turn, handed over the cash to his associate Santosh Shellar to arrange a vehicle and recruit others. Shellar roped in Anand Jadhav, Satish Mothkuri and Manish Soni. In court proceedings, the prosecution had mentioned that Rs 45 lakh was paid to eliminate Hiran.
When Hiran’s body was found and taken to CGM hospital in Kalwa, Waze got there while the post-mortem was underway, in a bid to keep tabs on the process, says the chargesheet.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) however, claimed on Wednesday that the NIA was protecting former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh to be the mastermind in the Antilia bomb scare case.
“As per the NIA charge sheet, Singh paid (the expert) Rs 5 lakh to create bogus evidence," claimed NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik. "It was Singh who brought expelled Sachin Waze back into police force and gave him key cases. Still, Singh's name is not in the charge sheet," he told reporters.
“We always suspected that Singh was the mastermind of Antilia case. And Singh, on the instructions from the BJP, leveled allegations against then state home minister Anil Deshmukh to malign his image,” Malik alleged.
The Central probe agency "under the pressure of Union government" concealed several uncomfortable facts in its charge sheet, he claimed.
Param Bir Singh was shunted out from the post of Mumbai police commissioner after Waze was arrested in the case reported The Times of India.
