Mumbai, Jul 31 A special court here on Friday ordered the NIA to return to the police department a car allegedly used by former police official Sachin Waze in the Antilia bomb scare incident.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had seized the Innova in 2021 and sent it to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) Pune, for scientific examination. The CFSL later returned it to the NIA.
On Friday, special NIA judge Chakor Baviskar granted the Mumbai Police's plea seeking return of the car.
“If it remains as it is in the parking compound of the NIA, it will lose its utility and value,” the court noted.
It also asked the police to execute an indemnity bond of Rs 5,00,000, and said the vehicle's identity will not be altered in any way.
Police will not dispose of the car and must produce it for legal purposes whenever directed by a competent authority, the judge said.
On February 25, 2021, an SUV with explosives inside was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's south Mumbai residence 'Antilia'.
Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV days earlier, was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5, 2021.
Waze was arrested a few days later for his alleged role in parking the SUV near Ambani's house. He is currently in judicial custody.
The NIA alleged that Waze's motive was to terrorize wealthy individuals and extort money to meet a Rs 100-crore monthly target allegedly set by a high-ranking political figure, while simultaneously attempting to regain his "lost glory" as a "super cop".
He futher conspired to eliminate Hiran because Hiran refused to take the blame for the explosives and was considered a "weak link" who could expose the conspiracy, the NIA claimed.
