Vinayak Shinde’s wife believes that her husband is falsely implicated in the case, as he never used to get involved much in anything since returned home on parole. Suspended constable Vinayak Shinde was a close confidant of Sachin Vaze. Shinde used to get handsomely paid by Vaze. Maharashtra ATS has claimed that Vinayak Shinde killed Mansukh Hiren at the behest of Sachin Vaze. Vinayak Shinde, a convicted constable was on parole in an encounter case.
In 2013, a Mumbai session’s court had awarded life sentences to 21 people, including 13 Mumbai Police personnel, for an encounter killing of a gangster named Lakkhan Bhaiyya (Ramnarayan Gupta) in 2006. Gupta was a member of the dreaded Chota Rajan gang. One of the policemen convicted was Vinayak Shinde, 55, a constable, who was released on parole last year in the state’s drive to decongest prisons during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to investigators of the state Anti-Terrorism Squad, Shinde took care of Vaze’s “illegal dealings in Thane and Kalwa area” and executed the murder of Hiren on Vaze’s behest.
Shinde was in Mumbai Crime Branch in the mid-2000s and had a good network in Mumbai as well as in Thane. “Shinde has a good network across Thane and also has connections with local goons,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
One of Shinde’s family members said that after he came out of parole, he would stay home. Shinde celebrated his birthday on March 11 with his family at his house. Shinde’s wife told Afternoon Voice, “He never used to go out much, he used to stay at home most of the time, from few days Sachin Vaze started calling him, many to implicate him falsely”.
The ATS on March 21 arrested two men, and bookie Naresh Gor in the murder of the 48-year-old Hiren. Sachin Vaze was the mastermind, but Shinde executed the murder of Hiren. Shinde had called Hiren to Ghodbunder Road on March 4.
Bookie Naresh Gore and Shinde were taken to the creek where Hiren’s body was found, and also conducted a search at a godown in the Majiwada area, believed to be of a firm owned by Vaze. The next day ATS took Shinde to his house in Kalwa, Vaze’s house in Saket, a car décor shop and a godown at Majiwada and Bhoomi World complex in Bhiwandi to trace Shinde’s entire movement on March 4 and 5.
NIA official’s team searched a room in the Trident hotel at Nariman Point where Vaze reportedly resided from February 16 to February 20. Vaze reportedly booked the hotel room with a forged Aadhar card using his photograph with a fictitious name.
 Shinde made Hiren unconscious in the godown by administrating chloroform and later dumped him in the creek. A man from Gujarat allegedly supplied some SIM cards obtained based on bogus documents to co-accused Naresh Gore, a cricket bookie.
One of the SIM supplied by Gore was purportedly used by Shinde to stay in touch with the other accused in the case, said the official. Later on, the ATS team that has gone to Gujarat has also recovered 14 SIM cards.
Several senior ATS officials who are part of the investigating team including additional commissioner Shivdeep Lande, DCP Rajkumar Shinde and ACP Shripad Kale, senior police inspector Daya Nayak were in Thane for almost the entire day.
Vaze has been arrested under IPC sections 286 (negligent conduct concerning explosive substance) 465 (forgery), 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal, etc with intent to commit forgery), 506(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Explosive Substances Act, the official said.
Shinde is one of the co-accused; along with bookie Naresh Gore and prime suspect Sachin Vaze, a suspended assistant inspector currently in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren.
Meanwhile, Sachin Vaze claimed he is being made a scapegoat in Mansukh Hiren’s death case.
