Antilia bomb scare: HC grants bail to suspended Mumbai cop Riyazuddin Kazi

Accepting his bail plea, the high court directed Riyazuddin to furnish a personal bond of ₹25,000 along with sureties and asked him to cooperate with the probe and attend the NIA office on the second Saturday of every month till further orders

The Bombay high court on Friday granted bail to suspended Mumbai police officer Riyazuddin Kazi, currently in jail, in connection with the Antilia bomb scare.

Police recovered 20 loose Gelatin sticks from the vehicle outside industrialist Mukesh Ambai’s residence Antilla (PTI Photo)

Riyazuddin was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in April 2021 for allegedly conspiring the Antilia bomb scare and the murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran with another suspended Mumbai cop Sachin Waze.

Accepting his bail plea, the high court directed Riyazuddin to furnish a personal bond of ₹25,000 along with sureties and asked him to cooperate with the probe and attend the NIA office on the second Saturday of every month till further orders. He was also asked to surrender his passport.

The dismissed cop had approached the Bombay high court after his bail plea was rejected previously by the NIA court, following which on December 2, a division bench of justice Revati Mohite-Dere and justice R N Laddha concluded the hearing and reserved its verdict. The decision was given on Friday.

Earlier, Naresh Gaur, booked for allegedly procuring SIM cards which were used in the conspiracy, was granted bail by the court in the case.

In its charge sheet filed in the case, the NIA charged Riyazuddin for helping Waze, the purported mastermind of the case, in the destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.

Riyazuddin, however, was not booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, invoked against the other co-accused, nor was he booked under sections related to murder.

Advocates Yug Mohit Chaudhry and Hassnain Kazi for the appellant argued that as per the charge sheet, there was no evidence to show that Riyazuddin was aware of the conspiracy to plant gelatin sticks in a vehicle and park it near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The alleged incident took place on February 25, 2021.

Chaudhry submitted that Riyazuddin’s alleged actions pertained to the instructions of his senior Sachin Waze, who was heading the crime intelligence unit at the time, while Riyazuddin was unaware of the conspiracy.

The lawyers argued that Riyazuddin had no role to play in the subsequent murder of Mansukh Hiran linked to the vehicle.

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh and advocate Sandesh Patil for the NIA, who rejected Riyazuddin’s bail plea earlier, said that there was proof to show he was aware of the criminal conspiracy and while there was no evidence of his involvement in planting of gelatine sticks outside Antilia or him being involved in Hiran’s murder, he was aware of the criminal conspiracy and actively participated in destroying evidence on Waze’s instructions.

The NIA alleged that Riyazuddin was involved in illegally accessing DVR containing CCTV footage from various locations, including Waze’s home in Thane and destroying it to remove proof of Waze’s involvement.

ASG Singh submitted to the high court stating Riyazuddin played an important role in the entire conspiracy or operation and in view of his involvement in the destruction of evidence, which is of grave nature, the appellant should not be released on bail.

The high court on December 15 also reserved its verdict in an appeal by former police officer Pradeep Sharma against the special court’s order that rejected bail to Riyazuddin in the Hiran murder case, which it will pronounce in due course.