The National Investigation Agency(NIA) on Saturday arrested Sachin Vaze, Maharashtra Assistant Police Inspector, for his alleged part in placing an explosive-laden sports utility vehicle near Reliance Industries Limited chairperson Mukesh Ambani’s house last month. 

The probe agency will present Mumbai police officer before court on Sunday and demand his custody. 

Sachin Vaze API Mumbai Police Crime Branch has been arrested for his role and involvement in placing an explosives-laden vehicle near Carmichael Road (near Mukesh Ambani’s house) on 25th February 2021, said an official statement of NIA.

After questioning for nearly 12 hours, Vaze was arrested by the central agency late on Saturday. He is also under probe for two other cases by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The first case involves the death of a Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran to whom the car found on Carmichael Road on February 25 was traced. The second case is of the same vehicle’s theft as reported on February 17 by the auto parts dealer.

According to the senior official, Vaze had confessed to his role but declined to share more details at this stage. Also, he was the lead investigator in the explosives case before he was transferred to the Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) at the police headquarters. The case was later transferred to the ATS and later to the NIA for investigation.

On Friday, Vaze had filed a plea seeking anticipatory bail at the Thane District sessions court, and asked for protection from arrest, saying that the case charged against him is baseless and a witch hunt. The court, while rejecting his plea observed that his custodial interrogation was necessary.The matter has been listed for further hearing on March 19.

Earlier, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had sought the arrest of Vaze. Following his transfer to CFC, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said that  Vaze is not Osama Bin Laden, hence it is not right to target a person and hang him and then investigate.

Meanwhile, the explosives-laden car was found near Ambani’s south Mumbai residence with a threat letter inside. While investigating, the  police traced the vehicle back to Hiran, but he claimed it was stolen a week earlier. The case became more complicated when Hiran himself was found dead in a creek near Mumbra town on March 5.

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Further, a message claiming responsibility for placing the vehicle was posted on Telegram February 27 night. According to the police, a ransom was demanded in cryptocurrency. Later, the Telegram channel was traced to a barrack in Delhi’s Tihar jail where Indian Mujahideen terrorist Tehseen Akhtar is housed.

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