Antilia explosives case: Ex-constable Vinayak Shinde participated in conspiracy, says court

Mumbai: Former Mumbai police constable Vinayak Shinde may not have been aware of the end result of the conspiracy purportedly hatched by prime accused Sachin Vaze, but he participated in it and knowingly misused his parole leave, the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has said while rejecting Shinde’s bail plea in Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case

Mumbai: Former Mumbai police constable Vinayak Shinde may not have been aware of the end result of the conspiracy purportedly hatched by prime accused Sachin Vaze, but he participated in it and knowingly misused his parole leave, the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has said while rejecting Shinde’s bail plea in Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case.

Shinde was arrested in the case on March 21, 2021, for allegedly arranging five SIM cards for Vaze which were used in murdering Hiran. (HT PHOTO)

A special court had on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Shinde, who was serving life imprisonment for his role in the 2006 fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta aka Lakhan Bhaiya. The detailed order became available on Saturday.

Shinde’s lawyer Gautam Jain had argued that cricket bookie Naresh Gor, another accused in the case, was granted bail and since the role attributed to Shinde was more or less similar, Shinde too was entitled to be released on bail on the ground of parity.

Special NIA Judge, A T Wankhede rejected the argument. The judge said the role assigned to Gor was of only procuring SIM cards used in the commission of the crime and handing it over to Shinde. “Such is not the case with Shinde. He was having a direct connection with the accused Vaze, who is the mastermind behind the offence. He was meeting Vaze. Thus, the role of Shinde is different and more serious than of Gor.”

The judge said Shinde was on parole since June 2020 and during this leave he contacted Vaze and was introduced to various bar owners in Mumbai and collected extortion amounts from them, pretending to be a police constable. “All this shows criminal behaviour of the applicant,” said the special court.

“No doubt the accused is behind bars since last ten months, still looking at the nature of the offence, more particularly the fact that he is a dismissed cop, the gravity of the offences increases. Considering the role of the applicant and his involvement in the offence, this is not a fit case to grant him bail,” said judge Wankhede.

Shinde was arrested in the case on March 21, 2021, for allegedly arranging five SIM cards for Vaze which were used in murdering Hiran.

On February 25, 2021, a car was found abandoned near Ambani’s residence with explosives and a note threatening to kill members of his family. On March 5, the body of the vehicle owner Hiran was found dumped in a creek.