In a fresh disclosure in the Antilia bomb scare case, the white Innova car that the NIA officials recovered from the Mumbai Police Commissionerate office on Saturday reportedly carried a fake number plate. The white Innova was suspected to be used, in addition to the Scorpio, to plant the bombs outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence in Mumbai on February 25. In CCTV footages, the Innova car was seeing following the Scorpio car, but after that day it had disappeared from the roads.
On Saturday, in a shocking development in the Antilia bomb scare case, the National Investigative Agency officials had recovered the white Innova car from the Mumbai Police Commissionerate office.
The NIA officials traced the white Innova to the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s Param Bir Singh’s office, where the suspicious car was parked. As they looked into it, they found that the white Innova suspected to be used along with the explosive-laden Scorpio car had “Police” written on its rear windshield. This means that the car was being used by Mumbai Police.
Reportedly, the Innova car was later brought to the NIA office on Saturday night. During the investigation, the NIA officials have found that the white Innova belonged to the CIU unit of the Mumbai Police and was used by Sachin Vaze. The NIA has accused Vaze of possessing explosives.
The Innova had carried an RTO’s registration number – ”MH 01 ZA 403”. According to a TV9 report, the number plate that was attached to the Innova car at the times of its seizure has found to be fake. A report by Times Now also says that number plate is fake, quoting NIA officials.
We try to search for the details of the registration number seen on the car on the national vehicle registration number enquiry portal of the Road Transport and Highway ministry, but we could not trace any information related to the car. The portal gave the message ‘Vehicle Detail not found’. The same message was displayed when searched for the number MH01ZA0403, adding 0 before the last 403. This means that the official records of the registered vehicles does not have any data related to this registration number.
It is also noteworthy that the images of the registration plate attached to the vehicle suggests that it is not a High Security Registration Plate (HSRP). It is on old plate which lacks the security features available with HRSP plates.
Though it is being reported that the car belonged to the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch, it is not clear about its original registration number.
Scorpio also carried fake number plate, owner died mysteriously
Incidentally, the explosive-laden Scorpio found outside Reliance Group’s chief Mukesh Ambani’s residence had also carried a fake registration number. It was earlier reported that Mumbai top cop Sachin Vaze used the same Scorpio car to escort Alibagh Police in the Arnab case.
Two cars – an Innova (white colour) and a Scorpio (green colour) were allegedly used to plant the bombs outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence in Mumbai on February 25. The police had traced the Scorpio to Mansukh Hiren, an auto part dealer in Thane. However, a few days later, Hiren’s dead body was found in a creek. While initially it was claimed to be suicide, further investigation revealed that it is possibly a murder.
Following the shocking disclosure regarding Mumbai Police alleged links to white Innova car, several questions are being raised to the Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh. The NIA officials are expected to question several Mumbai police cops and Shiv Sena leaders in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case. It is reported that Vaze has disclosed some high-profile names in connection to the incident.
