Mumbai, Sep 29 The NIA was left red-faced on Tuesday when a special court asked what "Muhurat" the probe agency was waiting for to record the statements of the alleged targets in the 2021 Antilia bomb scare case, as it granted bail to dismissed police officer Sachin Waze.
To date, the NIA has not recorded the statement of any member of industrialist Mukesh Ambani's family to prove that they were terrorised by the alleged act of parking of an SUV with explosives near Ambani's south Mumbai residence 'Antilia', it said.
The NIA immediately moved the Bombay High Court challenging the bail order, terming it illegal. The appeal would be heard on Wednesday by a bench headed by Justice Bharati Dangre. Waze, a key accused in the combined Antilia bomb scare and businessman Mansukh Hiran murder case, was expected to walk out of prison on Wednesday after nearly five years, his lawyer had said earlier.
The sessions court said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to establish a prima facie case of terrorism under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against Waze, and that there was no evidence on record to prove industrialist Mukesh Ambani's family was terrorised by his alleged act.
"No one knows which 'Muhurat' (auspicious time) the Investigating Agency is waiting for to record a statement of any of the targets of the alleged terror, after such a long gap of 5-6 years has already lapsed after the incident of parking of the explosive," Special Sessions Judge Chakor S Baviskar said.
Passing the order, the judge said that the prosecution had not produced basic statements to back its terrorism charge.
"There is absolutely nothing on record even to infer by any stretch of imagination that, the Ambanis or anyone of them is/was, are/were ever terrorised in any manner," the sessions court held while allowing Waze's bail plea.
The day-to-day business of the Ambanis does not appear to have been disturbed even for a minute.
"Though according to the prosecution, Sachin (A/1) wanted to strike terror or, the act of the accused was likely to strike terror in the minds of Ambanis'...there is nothing on record to that effect. Even if we suppose ourselves that, he wanted to create terror in the minds of Ambanis, it is impossible to accept that, any such terror was in fact ever created in the mind of anyone, least in the minds of Ambanis," the judge said.
"...till this moment, there is no statement recorded under section 161 or section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 of any of the family members of the Ambanis, nor of their near and dear relatives," the court said.
The judge also noted that the gelatin sticks found in the SUV lacked detonators, rendering them useless, and falling short of the "means" required to define a "terrorist act" under Section 15 of the UAPA.
As to the murder of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, the court stated that while it was a homicidal death, it was not the direct outcome of a terrorist act.
It was an independent offence under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, and the stringent bail restrictions under the UAPA would not apply to it, the court held.
The prosecution had accused Waze and others of forming a "terrorist gang" and entering into a criminal conspiracy.
On February 25, 2021, an SUV with explosives inside was found near billionnaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence.
Businessman Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV before it was allegedly stolen, was found dead in a creek in neighbouring Thane on March 5, 2021.
Sachin Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on March 13, 2021. He was subsequently made an accused in a corruption case being probed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
Waze has already got bail in the corruption case.
While granting him bail, the sessions court imposed several conditions on Waze, including a direction not to enter Mumbai, Navi Mumbai as well as the adjacent districts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad until the examination of all material witnesses concludes.
Waze has provided Pune as his home address.
