NIA questions Vaze colleagues in Hiran murder case

Mumbai The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday questioned suspended Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze’s colleagues in connection with the murder of 48-year-old Thane auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran last month.

Riyazuddin Shaikh, an officer at Crime Intelligence Unit and crime branch officer Prakash Ovhal, who is believed to have purchased a Mitsubishi Outlander from Vaze, were probed for around nine hours at the central agency’s office on Peddar Road, NIA officials said.

The agency also questioned a woman whose identity is yet to be ascertained.

Besides this, the NIA also conducted raids at a hotel and a club in south Mumbai in connection with the case, news agency PTI reported.

Customers and staff members of the hotel were asked to vacate the premises, located near the Babulnath temple. The NIA also recorded the statement of the owner of the club.

Hiran was linked to the explosives-laden Scorpio found abandoned near industrialist Mukesh Ambani Antilia home in south Mumbai. He had gone missing late in the evening on March 4 and his body was recovered from a creek at Reti Bunder near Mumbra the next day.

Six handkerchiefs were found stuffed in his mouth, and his face was covered by a scarf.

On March 13, Vaze was arrested by NIA officials for his purported role in abandoning the vehicle with 20 loses gelatin sticks near Ambani’s residence.

The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS), which was earlier probing the case, arrested former constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gor on March 21 in connection with the murder. ATS suspected that Vaze is also the prime accused in Hiran’s murder case, while Shinde allegedly helped him execute the murder, and Gor arranged for some SIM cards used in the commission of the crime from Gujarat.

Both ATS and NIA officials believe that Mansukh was smothered in a vehicle at Gaimukh, along Ghodbunder Road.

The initial probe by ATS had revealed that Hiran had received a call around 8.29 pm on March 4, and the caller spoke to him for around 11 minutes and asked him to meet near Majiwada junction on Ghodbunder Road.

According to an ATS officer, the trader was made to sit in a four-wheeler at Majiwada junction, taken 10km away to Gaimukh breach front, and smothered in the vehicle at the spot. Later the body was dumped in the creek at Reti Bunder, suspect NIA officials.

NIA is also trying to trace the Maruti Eeco, allegedly stolen from Aurangabad in November. The car’s original number plates were found during a search in Mithi river on March 28.