The number of vehicles, mostly high-end cars, impounded in these cases is now six.
Mumbai:
A Volvo car has been seized by the police in connection with the affairs of arrested Mumbai cop Sachin Waze, who seems closely involved in the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare incident and the related case of the mysterious death of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran earlier this month. With this, the number of vehicles impounded in these cases has touched six, with most of them being high-end automobiles. It all began on February 25, with a explosive-laden black Mahindra Scorpio being found in south Mumbai near the industrialist’s residence, carrying a letter of threat to his family.
The Volvo with Maharashtra registration was seized from Daman and is said to belong to a major businessman, although the Maharashtra ATS is still looking into the role this vehicle played in the case of Mr Hiran’s death. While the Ministry of Home Affairs had a few days ago handed over this case also to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is probing the threat to Mr Ambani, the transfer has still not been fully operationalised.
While the NIA suspects that Mr Waze, now suspended from service, had a role in parking the Scorpio SUV on Carmichael Road, the car itself was traced back to Mr Hiran, who had reported it as stolen on February 17. Mr Hiran was found dead in a Thane creek on March 5.
The probe into Mr Waze’s suspected role in all this had earlier led the NIA to confiscate a Toyota Innova, which, the agency said, was used by him to follow the Scorpio as it was being driven to the South Mumbai spot where it was later found on February 25.
The NIA has also said that the explosive-laden SUV’s number plate was found on March 17 inside a black Mercedes Benz GLC, another car used by Mr Waze. The anti-terror agency also recovered Rs 5 lakh in cash, a note-counting machine, and some clothes from the same car. The vehicle is registered in the name of one Manisha Bhavsar but was found parked near Mr Waze’s home in Thane’s Saket Complex.
Later the agency seized two more luxury SUVs, a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and a Mercedes-Benz ML-Class. The Prado, too, was found parked outside Mr Waze’s residence.