Mumbai court rejects NIA’s plea for Sachin Vaze’s custody, allows him to undergo surgery

NIA is likely to file a charge sheet soon against Vaze, Sunil Mane as well as the other accused in the case – Vilas Shinde, Naresh Gor and Riyaz Kazi

The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Monday rejected the plea of the central agency, seeking the custody of dismissed Mumbai Police officers Sachin Vaze and Sunil Mane, arrested in the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases. Instead, the court allowed Vaze to undergo a coronary artery bypass graft surgery at a private hospital.

NIA claimed Sachin Vaze was the main accused in the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases and had carried out the crimes out of purported desperation to “restore his lost glory in police.”

NIA’s had on Saturday sought Vaze’s custody for two days and Mane’s custody for five days. However, after hearing both the sides on Monday, special judge Prashant R Sitre rejected NIA’s application. The court also allowed Vaze’s application for home food for a period of 60 days, if the doctors recommend the same.

NIA special prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves argued that as per the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the agency can demand Vaze and Mane’s custody, who are currently in judicial custody in Taloja jail for 30 days.

“We want the custody for a limited purpose. After the arrest of the last five accused in June, we have seized some incriminating materials. The roles of some key suspects – who are major conspirators both in the planting of explosives as well as in the murder case – have surfaced after the seizures,” Gonsalves told the court.

He further submitted that Vaze and Mane need to be questioned on the material and new evidence available, as the agency is in its final leg of investigations.

“A large amount of cash has been seized in the case and we need to find out its origin in a reverse trail. It’s a pre-planned conspiracy and the suspects have also played a key role. Vaze and Mane have dodged the investigators earlier by misleading them as the two are trained police officers. However, now they need to be confronted on the new material available,” said Gonsalves.

Senior counsel Sudeep Pasbola and Raunak Naik, who appeared for Vaze, opposed NIA’s plea. They said all the grounds mentioned in the plea for custody were repetitive and nothing new or substantial was said in it. Pasbola said the application was not sustainable.

“The agency’s application doesn’t have merits. The agency was acting in a callous manner. Why do they require confronting the two when they had Mane’s custody for so many days? They have all the cash and documents; they can verify whatever they want. The investigation has not progressed anywhere,” Mane’s counsel told the court.

Pasbola also pointed out that the doctors at Sir JJ Hospital had given in writing that Vaze needs to undergo the cardiac surgery at the earliest, and as the fatality rate is high in government hospitals, he wanted to undergo it in Surana and Sethia Hospital that has branches in Mumbai and Thane.

“Nothing can be important than this,” Pasbola told the court.

He added Vaze was not even able to walk properly and he should be not given any stress during such a critical time.

When the court asked Vaze if he wanted to say anything, he said: “Please don’t let me die like Stan Swamy [Jesuit priest arrested in Elgar Parishad case].”

Judge Sitre then rejected NIA’s plea and allowed Vaze to undergo the surgery at the private hospital and report to the court in 15 days about the former officer’s condition.

NIA is likely to file a charge sheet soon against Vaze, Mane as well as the other accused in the case – Vilas Shinde, Naresh Gor and Riyaz Kazi.

On February 25, a Mahindra Scorpio was found abandoned near billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia on Carmichael Road in south Mumbai, with 20 loose gelatin sticks and a note threatening to kill the members of the industrialist’s family.

On March 5, the body of Hiran – the SUV’s owner who is an auto parts dealer from Thane – was found dumped in a creek at Reti Bunder near Mumbra.

NIA eventually took over investigations in both the cases and claimed that Vaze was the main accused in the case and had carried out the crimes out of purported desperation to “restore his lost glory in police.” Later, NIA also arrested former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma and four others who allegedly throttled Hiran in a car and dumped his body in the creek.