Sachin Vaze was sent to NIA custody till March 25, on Sunday (File)
Mumbai:
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday confirmed that the person, seen in a CCTV grab walking near Reliance Industries chairperson Mukesh Ambani’s residence on the night of February 25 when an explosive-laden vehicle was found, was police officer Sachin Vaze.
“In the CCTV footage, Sachin Vaze could be seen with his head covered with a large handkerchief so that no one could identify him. He was wearing an oversized kurta-pajama, and not PPE coverall, in an attempt to mask his body language and face,” the NIA added.
“A laptop was seized from the cabin of Sachin Vaze in a raid day before yesterday but all the data in it was already deleted. He was asked for his cellphone and he had said that he had dropped it somewhere. But the fact is that he had intentionally thrown it away,” NIA said.
NIA was investigating a CCTV visual that surfaced on Monday showing a person walking near Mukesh Ambani’s residence on the night an explosive-laden vehicle was found wearing what initially seemed like a PPE.
Sachin Vaze was transferred to the Citizen Facilitation Centre at the Mumbai Police Headquarters after his name came up in the death case of Mansukh Hiren, the owner of the vehicle that was found on Carmichael Raod outside Antilia on February 25.
Mansukh Hiren was found dead in a creek on March 5 in Thane.
Sachin Vaze was sent to NIA custody till March 25, on Sunday. He had on Saturday moved an anticipatory bail application at Thane District and Sessions Court.
The matter briefly came up for hearing on March 12 but the court refused to give him interim relief and issued notice to the state government and posted the matter for hearing on March 19.