E-Paper
Found several incriminating docus from ex-Mumbai cop’s NGO: NIA on Antilia case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought 30 days more from the court to submit a charge sheet in the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases, contending that they have found several incriminating documents from the office of former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma’s Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) PS Foundation at Andheri (East) and the evidence was being analysed
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought 30 days more from the court to submit a charge sheet in the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases, contending that they have found several incriminating documents from the office of former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma’s Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) PS Foundation at Andheri (East) and the evidence was being analysed.
NIA informed the court that the extension of custody of the accused – dismissed cops Sachin Vaze, Riyazuddin Kazi, Sunil Mane and Vinayak Shinde and bookie Naresh Gor – was necessary.
The agency has already got a 60-day extension and is seeking more time as under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) they can get custody for a maximum time of 180 days.
Vaze was arrested on March 13 by the agency and the other accused were taken into custody in the subsequent days.
Special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves, appearing for NIA, claimed that several witnesses in the cases were threatened and that they have already provided protection to some of the witnesses. People are feared for their lives and not coming ahead as witness.
In such a situation if the agency is not given appropriate time to file a charge sheet and the accused are released on bail, it could impact the pending investigation, Gonsalves argued.
He also informed the court that NIA is yet to get a reply from Facebook on the account details of the accused and also from Apple about their mobile phones.
“We have found several incrementing documents from PS Foundation’s office in Andheri and they are being analysed,” Gonsalves told the court.
The agency also said that the accused had given ₹ 45 lakh to contract killers to carry out Hiran’s murder and they are still analysing bank accounts. After murdering Hiran, the accused had travelled to Dubai and Nepal and the evidence is been collected to corroborate the same.
“The accused are police officers and they are not co-operating with the agency at all. We have to question 50 traders to find out how the gelatin sticks used in the Antilia explosives case were brought to Mumbai. If the accused could have co-operated, the work could have been reduced,” Gonsalves told court while pressing for his demand to extend the judicial custody of the five accused for 30 more days till the charge sheet is filed.
However, the accused through their counsel pressed for their release, citing several judgements of the Apex court and owing to the delay in filing the charge sheet.
The accused told the court that they were lodged in Taloja jail and sought time to reply to NIA’s plea for extension of custody and pressed to carry the matter before a regular court as the NIA court was not working on Tuesday. However, NIA told the court that it wanted the matter to be decided early.
The court has now posted the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.
