'Something fishy': Uddhav after NIA asked to take over Ambani bomb threat probe

Chief minister Thackeray also said that the Maharashtra police’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS), which was investigating the matter until now, will continue to conduct its probe into Hiran’s death.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday questioned the Centre’s decision to hand over the probe case of the explosives-laden vehicle found outside billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s residence to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). “There is something fishy in the way the probe in Ambani vehicle case is handed over to NIA by the Centre,” Thackeray said.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. (Vidhyadhar Rane / Hindustan Times)

Officials of the central agency said they are currently in the process of registering the case and will send a team to the spot and examine the Scorpio inside which the explosives were found. On February 25, the green Scorpio with 20 gelatin sticks, weighing up to 2.5 kgs, was found abandoned on Carmichael Road which is 600 metres away from Antilia, the residence of the Ambanis. A threat letter addressed to Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, and his wife Nita Ambani was also found in it.

Soon after the investigation was launched, a man Mansukh Hiran came forward and said that the SUV was reported stolen from him and that he had reported the theft of his car on February 18. Hiren’s body was found in Kalwa creek on March 5, hours after his family reported that he was missing.

Chief minister Thackeray also said that the Maharashtra police’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS), which was investigating the matter until now, will continue to conduct its probe into Hiran’s death. He said the opposition does not have faith in the state machinery and wanted to show it doesn't function. "If that is so, why is it demanding that the state government reduce taxes on fuel?" the chief minister asked.

Maharashtra’s home minister Anil Deshmukh also said in the state assembly on Monday that state police were capable of solving the case of Hiren's death and the recovery of the explosives-laden car near Ambani's residence.