Since Vaze reinstated to the department and that to the crime branch, he became overconfident. Arnab Goswami’s arrest made him a hero but that was not sufficient to become a super cop. He was craving publicity and sensation.
He created a plot; first checked in five-star hotels with fake name and identity, using the forged Aadhaar, with unique identification number 7825-2857-5822, Sachin Vaze stayed at Trident hotel at Nariman Point from February 16-20. Then took a vehicle from Mansukh Hiren to make him accused in his drama, but that backfired when Hiren went to the crime branch and made his complaint. Vaze had no other option than eliminating Hiren to prove the plot that he was one of the conspirators.
Surprisingly, the vehicle loaded with explosives had traveled 30 km—from Naupada in Thane city to Ambani’s residence on Carmichael Road, without being stopped. This exposed Mumbai’s defenselessness, raising questions of its alertness in keeping law and order.
All this could have been possible with the help of the government. Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), interrogated Vaze, the first investigation officer in this case, for close to 13 hours along with second investigation officer Nitin Alaknure, assistant commissioner of police. On March 14, a special court remanded Vaze to NIA custody till March 25.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Sachin Vaze, on the night of March 13 for planting an explosive-loaded Scorpio car outside the residence of Mukesh Ambani, on February 25. Soon after his arrest, state politics was on fire and the media went for the kill. There was a lot of pressure on agencies.
The team of NIA visited Trident hotel and conducted a search of the room where Sachin Vaze stayed. It is still not clear why Vaze used a fake ID and stayed at a hotel and who all he met him during his stay. Meanwhile, it is also shocking that the staff of Trident could not recognize Vaze, in spite of being in news every day.
The NIA officials have also taken the CCTV footage of the hotel and are going through it to track Sachin Vaze’s movements during his hotel stay. Just a day after Sachin Vaze checked-in to the hotel on February 16, the Scorpio belonging to Mansukh Hiren was allegedly stolen, and on February 25, it was found outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence with explosives in it.
Mansukh Hiren’s wife claimed that Sachin Vaze was behind her husband’s death. In her police complaint, Vimla Hiren claimed that her husband, an auto parts dealer had known Sachin Vaze for many years. The Hirens had the Scorpio for over three years.
She said that Sachin Vaze took the car from Mansukh Hiren in November 2020 for personal use but returned it on February 5, citing some issues with the car.
Her husband began using the car but it developed a mechanical fault on February 17 so he left it in Vikhroli and came back home. The next day, the car went missing and the Hirens filed a theft complaint with the police. Mansukh Hiren’s Scorpio car was never stolen. He reportedly handed over keys to the car to a CIU official on February 17, who then parked it at Sachin Vaze’s residence in Thane’s Saket colony. A week before the Ambani bomb scare incident, Sachin Vaze’s family left his Saket colony flat.
Three days before his death, Mansukh Hiren had written a letter accusing the police of harassment. A lawyer hired by Sachin Vaze reportedly wrote the letter for him. On March 4, Mansukh Hiren reportedly left home to meet a Crime Branch police officer called Tawde but never came back home.
On the night of March 4 when Mansukh Hiren went missing and was allegedly murdered, Sachin Vaze made sure that he didn’t make any calls or receive calls on his personal phone. To strengthen his defense, Vaze conducted searches at hotels till late at night on March 4 in Dongri of Mumbai.
Sachin Vaze had other accomplices too. According to Maharashtra ATS, a Gujarat-based cricket bookie Naresh Gore provided five SIM cards to suspended Mumbai Police constable Vinayak Shinde who was close to Sachin Vaze. Both Gore and Shinde have been arrested by Maharashtra ATS. Calls were reportedly made from these SIM cards to lure Mansukh Hiren out of his home on the day of his murder.
Shinde is also suspected to be involved in planting the threat letter near Mukesh Ambani’s residence.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh was transferred from his post on March 17 and Maharashtra DGP Hemant Nagrale took over his post. Param Bir Singh was sent to the Home Guards department.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (March 24) refused to entertain former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s petition for a CBI probe into his allegations of corruption against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Meanwhile, the opposition thought the government may fall, but they failed. The new CP of Mumbai transferred many officers and cleaned the carpet.
Hope the motive in all this saga gets established soon.
