NIA arrests Mumbai cop Sachin Vaze in Ambani bomb threat case

Controversial police officer Sachin Vaze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday night.

Vaze (49), an Assistant Police Inspector, was grilled for 13 hours at the NIA Mumbai office at Peddar Road and placed under arrest around midnight.

"Sachin Vaze arrested in NIA In Case RC no. 01/2021/NIA/MUM under section 286, 465, 473, 506(2), 120 B of IPC, and 4(a)(b)(I) Explosive Substances Act 1908," a brief NIA statement said

The NIA has been investigating the suspicious planting of a Mahindra Scorpio SUV laden with 20-odd gelatin sticks and a threatening letter near Antilia, the Mumbai residence of Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman Mukesh Ambani, the richest businessman of India.

Read | Mumbai Police's Sachin Vaze, an old friend of controversies

Vaze would be produced before a special NIA court on Sunday after a mandatory medical examination.

This comes as a major embarrassment to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

The BJP has been demanding his arrest and has raised the issue in the Budget Session of the Maharashtra Legislature.

Read | Time to say goodbye: Sachin Vaze puts up cryptic WhatsApp status

The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is proving the death of Mansukh Hiren, the owner of the Scorpio, whose body was recovered on 5 March form the Reti Bunder creek in the Mumbra-Kalwa area of neighbouring Thane district.

Hiren's wife Vimla had suspected that Vaze could be behind the death of the automobile spare parts businessman.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Nitin Alaknure too was grilled and allowed to go.

Reacting to the development, Leader of Opposition Pravin Darekar said, “His arrest was very much necessary in the case and that’s what the BJP had been demanding.”

Vaze, in the morning, created a sensation through his WhatsApp status message – “time to say goodbye to the world is coming closer”.

While the Maharashtra government has assigned the probe to the death of Hiren to the state ATS, the central agency NIA has taken over the probe of the planting of the Scorpio SUV.

Vaze has moved the Thane Sessions Court for an anticipatory bail in the Mansukh Hiren case, however, it has not granted any interim relief and posted the next hearing on March 19.

Read | Ambani bomb scare: Cops reach Tihar Jail to question terror convict on mobile phone recovery

His WhatsApp status message read, “March 3, 2004. Fellow officers from the CID arrested me in a false case. That arrest is inconclusive to date. Sensing history is going to repeat. My fellow officers are on to falsely trap me. There’s a slight difference in the scenario. Then probably I had 17 years of hope, patience, life and service too. Now I will have neither 17 years of further life nor service nor patience to live. I think the time to say goodbye to the world is coming closer.”

This was an apparent reference to the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case, in which he was suspended and arrested and later resigned. However, he was reinstated by the government on his request and based on a review committee’s decision in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Vaze was grilled by the state ATS, which has registered an FIR into the case based on the statement of Hiren's wife Vimla, who suspects his role behind the death of her husband.

Read | No sign of forcible entry seen on Mansukh Hiren's SUV found near Ambani's house: Mumbai Police

On Friday, he was transferred by the Mumbai Police from the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Crime Branch-CID to Special Branch and then attached to the Citizen Facilitation Centre.

The case vis-a-vis the Scorpio was registered in the Gamdevi police station, however, later NIA took it over at the order of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Vaze was handling several high profile cases like the TRP rigging scam, Anvay Naik suicide case.

It may be recalled that Vaze led the police team that went to the home of editor-TV anchor Arnab Goswami in the Anvay Naik suicide case.