Vehicles and fake number plates have had critical roles to play in the Antilia bomb scare case. Two days earlier, API Riyaz Kazi, the close aide of Mumbai tainted cop Sachin Vaze, was caught on CCTV entering a number plate shop in Vikhroli. Kazi allegedly went there with an intention to destroy evidence. Additionally, the explosive-laden Scorpio car, Vaze’s personal Mercedes car and the white Innova, which was suspected to be used in addition to the Scorpio, all these vehicles recovered by the NIA so far have been found with fake number plates.
Now in another fresh twist in the Sachin Vaze case, it has been learnt that two more vehicle registration plates, with the same number, were recovered from the Mithi river, where NIA had sent professional divers on March 28, in a bid to recover crucial evidence from the river bed.
On Monday, a day after the NIA officials recovered two CPUs, a laptop, two digital video recorders (DVRs), and two vehicle registration plates from the Mithi river, a government official based in Aurangabad has claimed that the number plates retrieved from the Mithi river belonged to him.
“I am really worried. I don’t know how my stolen car’s number plate reached the river”, said Vijay Madhukar Nade while speaking to the media. He added that he has registered an FIR in Aurangabad regarding the same and the city police are probing the case.
Madhukar Nade of Aurangabad. The number plates retrieved from Mithi yesterday belong to his stolen Maruti Eco
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Nade has claimed that his car was stolen from Aurangabad’s Uddhavrao Patil Chowk on November 16, 2020, and he had filed an FIR regarding the same. “My car – with the number MH-20-FP-1539 – was stolen on 16 November 2020 and an FIR was filed. I have a copy of the same. For three months, there was no information but yesterday, I was informed about it,” said Nade.
The NIA is now reportedly probing why Vaze used that particular registration number.
The central agency had reached the spot on Sunday at around 3:15 PM. Reports suggest that a group of 10 divers conducted the search for three hours and recovered crucial evidence. An NIA official said around seven NIA officials took Sachin Vaze to the spot from where he had discarded the evidence after damaging it with a hammer. Investigators believe that the recovered evidence is by far one of the most important recoveries made in the investigation. The search continued till 6 PM.
Sachin Vaze tried to destroy the evidence with a hammer
NIA has reportedly said, “During the interrogation of accused Sachin Vaze, he disclosed willingly to show the place where he threw the material used in the crime and destroyed the evidence. Accordingly, two independent witnesses were called, and his voluntary statement was recorded. Further, the accused showed the place as Mithi River, BKC, Bandra (East), Mumbai.”
According to the reports, assistant police inspector Riyazuddin Kazi had revealed that the evidence was thrown in the Mithi River during the interrogation.
