Ambani bomb scare: Sachin Vaze responds to Devendra Fadnavis’ allegations

Sachin Vaze. Pic/Twitter

Following Opposition leader Devendra Fadanvis raising several questions in the assembly against API Sachin Vaze in the case of the car filled with explosives found outside Mukesh Ambani's SoBo house, Vaze responded with a clarification.

On how he first reached the spot and only he found the threat note to the Ambani family, Vaze said, "I was not the first to reach the spot, it was senior police inspector of Gamdevi police station who got there initially. After that, it was the traffic police officers, followed by DCP Zone 2, the BDDS team and only after that did I and my crime intelligence unit team land there."

On knowing Mansukh Hiren, the owner of the car who was found dead in Mumbra on Friday, Vaze said, "I know him as he is from Thane but I haven't met him in recent times." On the statement by Fadnavis about checking Vaze's CDR details, he said, "Ye toh Fadnavis sahab ko hi puchhna padega."

Soon after Fadnavis's statement, the body of Mansukh Hiren was found in a creek under mysterious circumstances on Friday afternoon. Following this, Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh and Joint Commissioner Crime Milind Bharambe reached Vidhan Bhawan to brief State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Deshmukh made a statement in the assembly that the case had now been transferred to the Maharashtra ATS. According to Deshmukh, the Scorpio car found near Ambani's residence was owned by one Sam Newton but it was being used by Mansukh Hiren as Newton had not paid renovation charges of the car. Hiren runs a car decor showroom in Thane. The case of explosives was initially handled by the CIU led by Vaze, but was later transferred to the crime branch ACP Nitin Alaknure.

Senior crime branch officials remained tight lipped about the case. According to sources, the multiple teams formed by crime branch to track the Innova that the accused had escaped in did not find any clue despite scanning hundreds of CCTV footage.