Pradeep Sharma met Param Bir Singh before, after Hiran murder: NIA charge sheet

The revelations in the NIA chargesheet were made by Sharma’s police bodyguard and an assistant commissioner of police who initially investigated the case pertaining to the recovery of explosives from near the industrialist’s house.

Encounter specialist Pradeep Sharm had met former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh twice in the first week of March, days before and after the murder of Thane-based trader Mansukh Hiran, who was also the owner of the explosives-laden SUV found abandoned near the South Mumbai residence of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said in its charge sheet filed on September 3.

Former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh. (HT file photo)

While Sharma first met Singh on March 2 after allegedly hatching the murder conspiracy with former cops Sachin Vaze and Sunil Mane, he again met him on March 5 after the body of the 48-year-year trader was found at a creek at Reti Bunder near Mumbra, witnesses in the case told the central agency.

The revelations were made by Sharma’s police bodyguard and an assistant commissioner of police who initially investigated the case pertaining to the recovery of explosives from near the industrialist’s house.

Vaze and Mane were dismissed from service on May 11 and June 1, respectively. Sharma resigned in 2019 to contest the state elections as a Shiv Sena candidate (he lost). All three have been arrested.

Singh, meanwhile, was removed as police commissioner on March 17 and transferred to Home Guard due to “unforgivable” lapses in the probe.

The March meetings came a week after a green Mahindra Scorpio was found abandoned near Ambani’s residence, Antilia, on Carmichael Road in South Mumbai, with 20 lose gelatin sticks and a threatening note addressed to the Ambanis. Investigators at the NIA believe this may have been an attempt by Vaze to burnish his credentials as an investigator (by solving a case he had himself orchestrated), although there is no evidence of this. Nor is there evidence to support another prevalent theory in Mumbai -- that this was plain old extortion.

It emerged that the car was in Hiran’s possession, and had been borrowed by Vaze, but reportedly returned a few weeks before the incident. Soon questions began to be aired about Vaze’s involvement in the case, and whether he had himself planted the explosives. Then, Hiran went missing, and then turned up dead.

In a detailed statement to the investigating agency, Sharma’s bodyguard said that on February 28, the former cop met Vaze near Malabar Hill police station and the duo had a long chat at Worli sea face.

Similarly on March 2, Sharma visited Crawford Market and then met Singh for around 15-20 minutes. The former cop then visited Vaze at the latter’s office in CIU, the guard told the investigating agency.

An ACP, who was initially investigating the case, told NIA that he was summoned by Vaze on March 5. The duo were discussing the trader, who had then gone missing, when Vaze got a call and spoke in a monosyllabic tone. Vaze, the ACP said, told him that Hiran’s body was found at a creek near Mumbra.

Vaze told the ACP that “Hiran might have committed suicide due to pressure”. He later left to meet Singh.

The ACP added that saw Sharma and Vaze coming out of Singh’s office when he had gone to visit the police commissioner.

According to the NIA, the ACP said that Vaze called him to Varsha (official residence of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray) later in the day. The ACP told him that he was not carrying any documents pertaining to the case but Vaze insisted he tag alone.

The ACP said he saw ATS chief Jaijeet Singh and ADG, state intelligence department, Ashutosh Dumbre, at the chief minister’s bungalow.

When Thackeray enquired about the Antilia and Hiran cases, Vaze said there was no terror angle in the former one and that Hiran’s death appeared to be a case of suicide.

Jaijeet Singh, however, clarified that the terror angle could not be ruled out and the real cause of Hiran’s death can only be ascertained after a release of the post-mortem report.