Bombay high court sets aside bail for former cop Sachin Waze in Antilia explosives scare case

The Bombay high court set aside bail granted to Sachin Waze in the 2021 Antilia explosives scare and the connected Mansukh Hiran murder case.

The Bombay high court on Thursday set aside a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court order granting bail to dismissed police officer Sachin Waze in the 2021 Antilia explosives scare and the connected murder of Thane auto-parts dealer Mansukh Hiran.

Sachin Waze bail set aside by Bombay high court in Mansukh Hiran murder case

A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale on Thursday allowed an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), challenging the September 29 order by which the special court had granted Waze bail.

The Antilia bomb scare case relates to the recovery of a Mahindra Scorpio SUV containing gelatine sticks and a threat letter outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia, on February 25, 2021. The vehicle belonged to Hiran, who had reported it stolen a week earlier. His body was found in a creek in Thane on March 5, 2021.

The NIA took over the explosives case on March 8, 2021, and subsequently investigated Hiran’s murder and the related vehicle theft as part of the alleged conspiracy. Its charge sheet named Waze, former “encounter specialist” Pradeep Sharma, and eight others, alleging their involvement at different stages.

The prosecution’s case is that the vehicle theft, the placement of the explosives-laden SUV, and Hiran’s murder were connected. Investigators alleged that the explosives incident was not an isolated act but part of a wider conspiracy, with Hiran’s death forming a crucial strand of the case. The allegations are yet to be proved at trial.

According to the NIA, Waze himself had parked the SUV outside Antilia and given a contract to Sharma to kill Hiran after the businessman refused to take the blame for planting the vehicle. Sharma allegedly arranged for four contract killers, while another police officer, inspector Sunil Mane, fetched Hiran from his house and handed him over to the contract killers, the agency claimed.

Waze was arrested by the NIA in March 2021. Five years later, on September 29, a special NIA court granted Waze bail, noting that the agency had failed to justify anti-terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). However, just a day later, the high court stayed the bail order following an urgent appeal by the NIA.

Immediately after the order was pronounced by the NIA court, the federal agency approached the high court. Acting on the agency’s plea, the high court had, on September 30, stayed the special NIA court order, preventing Waze’s release from jail.