On Thursday, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) informed a special court that it had recovered 62 unaccounted bullets from the residence of former Assistant Police Inspector (API) Sachin Vaze. He was arrested on March 23 in connection to the Antilia bomb scare case and remanded to NIA custody for 12 days.
As per reports, the NIA found only 5 out of 30 bullets that were officially allotted for his service pistol. Additional solicitor general Anil Singh asked, “When officials are given ammunition, they have to account for each and every one of it used by them. We want to investigate where the 25 bullets were used and what patronage did he have which allowed him to not have kept a record of these?”
While referring to the unaccounted 62 bullets, Anil Singh further pointed out, “Why was the huge quantity kept at his house and was it part of a deep-rooted conspiracy has to be probed.” Meanwhile, Sachin Vaze had alleged foul play and claimed that he was being made a scapegoat. His NIA custody was extended by the special Court till April 3.
Concerned with the safety of people, says Additional solicitor general
Additional solicitor general Anil Singh said, “This is one of the most heinous and most shocking cases not only in our city or state but the entire country. Everybody is shocked to find that a police officer is involved in planting explosives at a particular place of a case he himself was the investigating officer of.” He added that the NIA has been probing whether the objective was to create terror in the society or disturb the Indian economy by targeting a businessman.
Referring to the Mansukh Hiren murder case, Singh emphasised that his ‘murder’ was connected to the Antilia bomb scare case and thus has to be probed. “Explosive-laden vehicle was in his name. Two persons have been taken into custody from the ATS.” While demanding an extension of Vaze’s NIA custody, Singh reiterated that his custody was crucial in connection to the case. The NIA had also invoked charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against Sachin Vaze.
Sachin Vaze had 4 bags of cash in possession
Sachin Vaze had checked into Trident Nariman Point at 7:30 pm on February 16 as ‘Sushant Sadashiv Khamkar’ and produced a fake Aadhaar card as ID proof. The picture on the Aadhaar card produced by Vaze is from his younger days and mentioned ‘June 15, 1972’ as the date of birth whereas Sachin Vaze’s original date of birth is February 22, 1972.
It was also reported that Vaze carried five bags with him at the time of check-in with one containing a jelly-like substance suspected to be gelatin, while the other bags were full of currency. The x-ray images of the bags retrieved from the hotel confirm the presence of currency, Times Now has reported.
