A day after Mansukh Hiren’s death case was transferred to NIA, Shivdeep Lande DIG of ATS declared the case was solved. TV9 reported that Shivdeep is the husband of Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivtare’s daughter, Mamta Shivtare. Shivtare has served as Minister of State for Water Resources and Water Conservation in the government of Maharashtra. He lost to Congress’ Sanjay Jagtap in 2019 Assembly polls.
Shivdeep Wamanrao Lande, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (D.I.G.) for the ATS, posted a message on Facebook today, saying that the puzzle of the very sensitive Mansukh Hiren murder case has been solved.
The post did not divulge much information on how the case was solved. Shivdeep Lande congratulated all his ATS police force colleagues who worked day and night for several days, which resulted in justice in the case. The post also read that this case was one of the most complex cases of his police career.
Who is Shivdeep Lande
Born in Maharashtra’s Ankola, Lande’s father was reportedly a farmer. He studied engineering and also prepared for UPSC. He became an IPS in Bihar cadre and his first posting was in Bihar’s Munger district. He was posted in Naxal affected Jamalpur area. He had earned himself quite a name in Patna and was nicknamed ‘Robinhood’.
He gained prominence in 2015 when he caught a cop red-handed while accepting bribe. In a filmy style, he had appeared wearing red dupatta. He was also called ‘Singham’ and ‘dabang’ in Bihar. Lande had distributed his personal mobile numbers to college girls so that they can reach out to him in case they were being harassed on streets. Turns out, he himself would land up to teach a lesson to street harassers and help the girls.
And now, within just hours after the NIA takes over the investigation in Mansukh Hiren’s death, Lande has ‘solved’ the case. The announcement was made via a social media post.
According to reports, the accused Naresh Dhare, a cricket bookie who was arrested yesterday in connection with Mansukh Hiren’s death case, had provided five fake sim cards to Sachin Vaze and suspended Mumbai Police constable Vinayak Shinde.
In another report by Times Now, it was revealed that Mansukh Hiren was in touch with the accused through these fake sims. It is said that Mansukh received a WhatsApp call on the 4th of March (the day he went missing) from Ahmedabad which happens to be bookie’s location. Reverse tracing Mansukh Hiren’s whereabouts, the reports suggests that the former cop Shinde was close to Mansukh Hiren’s location in Godbunder busting the alleged nexus. Maharashtra ATS has 11 suspects under scanner which comprises of bookies with a notorious past and suspended former police employees who were close to Sachin Vaze.
#NewsAlert | Maharashtra: Mansukh Hiren death case cracked, says Maharashtra ATS. A former cop & a bookie arrested.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 22, 2021
Aruneel with details. pic.twitter.com/r3VLSu3KsU
Even though Maharashtra ATS has declared the case as solved, we will have to wait and watch what new turn the case takes with NIA taking over the investigation.
Mansukh Hiren case transferred to NIA
Even though ATS has continued to probe the Mansukh Hiren death case and made the two arrests today, the case has been transferred to the National Investigation Agency. Yesterday, the union home ministry had issued orders to the NIA to take over the case from the ATS. It is not known when the ATS will formally hand over the case to NIA.
Mansukh Hiren was found dead in Kalwa Creek in Mumbai on 5th March, just days after his Scorpio car laden with explosive gelatine sticks was found outside the residence of Mukesh Ambani on 25th February. Although initially Mumbai police tried to say that Hiren had committed suicide, soon it had become clear that it was a murder related to the explosive case. Earlier Hiren had lodged a complaint that his car was stolen.
By now it has revealed that the car was planted by Mumbai Police API Sachin Vaze, who knew Mansukh Hiren and had used the Scorpio car for several months earlier. He had kept the car at his residence before he had planted it near Antilia. To cover his traces, he had taken the CCTV footage from his building and destroyed them. The number plate of the Scorpio was found from a Mercedes he was using, and an Innova car that had trailed the Scorpio was found in Mumbai Police Commissioner’s office, which was parked there by Vaze. Apart from that, NIA has also recovered two more cars, one Land Cruiser Prado and another Mercedes.
