Antilia explosives scare: Material indicates Sunil Mane was part of conspiracy, says court

Special NIA judge AM Patil, in his detailed order, which became available on Friday, said, “Upon perusal of statements of witnesses, it is clear that prima facies involvement of this applicant (Mane) is seen in this case

Mumbai: The special NIA court rejected the discharge plea of dimissed Mumbai police officer Sunil Mane stating that the prosecution had enough material to prove conspiracy and its culmination in the murder of Mansukh Hiran in the Antilia explosives scare case.

The special NIA court rejected the discharge plea of dimissed Mumbai police officer Sunil Mane stating that the prosecution had enough material to prove conspiracy and its culmination in the murder of Mansukh Hiran in the Antilia explosives scare case (Hindustan Times)

Special NIA judge AM Patil, in his detailed order, which became available on Friday, said, “Upon perusal of statements of witnesses, it is clear that prima facies involvement of this applicant (Mane) is seen in this case.”

The court further observed, “It is also seen that prosecution has material to prove conspiracy between the accused and its culmination in the murder of Mansukh by accused No. 1 (dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze) along with the co-accused, including the applicant,” said the court.

“Apart from the statements of witnesses, the prosecution has incriminating evidence such as call detail records of mobile phone used by the accused. Statements of protected witnesses further show the presence of this applicant along with accused No. 1. It is also seen from the chargesheet that Mansukh was killed by the accused because of crime dated 25.02.2021,” it added.

Concluding that it could not be held at this stage that Mane was not involved in the conspiracy of planting explosives laden car outside Antilia, it said, “It is the basic story of prosecution that the act of parking of explosive laden Scorpio vehicle of Mansukh and thereafter murder of Mansukh was a well-planned act involving high-end criminal conspiracy which was executed by the accused with an intent to strike terror.”

Mane was arrested by NIA on April 23 for his role in the killing of Thane trader Hiran.

He had sought discharge from the case claiming that the sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act could not be invoked against him, as the acts of terror came to an end on February 25, 2021 when an explosives-laden SUV was abandoned outside Antilia, residence of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, and none of the subsequent actions (like Hiran’s murder) can be termed as offences under the UAPA.

It was argued that from the end of February to beginning of March that no one intended to kill Hiran. By beginning of March 2021, when Hiran refused to comply with directives of accused No. 1 (Sachin Waze), the decision to kill Hiran was taken. Thus, the conspiracy to kill Hiran was not planned before the act of terror i.e. planting of gelatine sticks and the terror note.

The prosecution, however, claimed that the murder of Hiran was the culmination of the larger conspiracy hatched by Waze, Pradeep Sharma and Mane, as such were continuing and connected offences.

The special court accepted the contentions advanced on behalf of the prosecution. It rejected Mane’s plea for discharge, observing that his act “cannot be segregated at this juncture and without leading evidence, it cannot be concluded that applicant (Mane) had no knowledge about the act of other accused in respect of incident dated 25.02.2021 (abandoning the explosive-laden vehicle outside Antilia).”

On February 25, a Mahindra Scorpio was found abandoned near Antilia with 20 lose gelatine sticks kept in a backpack and a note threatening the members of the Ambani family. On March 5, the body of the vehicle owner, Thane trader Mansukh Hiran, was found dumped in creek near Mumbra.