The Antilia Conspiracy

Bhuabneswar (Surjit Kumar Dhal): Tainted Mumbai Police cop and Shiv Sena leader Sachin Vaze, a prime accused in the Antilia bomb scare case. Over the last few weeks, the Antilia bomb scare case has taken a dramatic turn with the arrest of Mumbai police “encounter specialist” Sachin Vaze. The controversial cop and former Shiv Sena leader Sachin Vaze is also accused of murdering Mansukh Hiren, an important witness in the case. After his arrest by NIA, Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh has also been transferred from his post.

From the recovery of an explosives-laden vehicle outside Ambani’s residence to the transfer of the Mumbai Police Commissioner, the case has turned to be one of the most controversial cases in recent history. On February 17, a Mumbai-based Businessman Mansukh Hiren’s car was stolen from Vikhroli area. A day later, Mansukh Hiren files a police complaint. In his complaint, Hiren claims that he had given the SUV to Sachin Vaze, who returned the car on 5 February 2021 owing to a technical snag in the steering. Hiren said that he was forced to park the car at the Eastern Express Highway in Vikhroli on 17 February after the “steering got jammed”. The car was missing when he came back the next day and lodged a complaint with Vikhroli police station.

On February 25, a Scorpio car with 20 explosive gelatin sticks was found outside Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai residence – ‘Antilia’. The security staff of Antilia informed police about the suspicious Scorpio. The Mumbai Police recovered 20 unassembled gelatin sticks, some number plates and a threatening letter from the car. Several cops, including Mumbai’s crime intelligence unit headed by Sachin Vaze, reached the spot for investigation. It is revealed from CCTV footage that two cars – an Innova and a Scorpio were allegedly used to plant the bombs outside Antilia. The Innova had trailed the Scorpio, and after parking the Scorpio near Antilia, its driver had got into the Innova to leave the place.The Mumbai Police investigation reveals that the bomb-laden car belonged to Mansukh Hiren.

ATS soon picks him up for investigation. Two days after the SUV laden with explosive material was discovered outside Antilla, the residence of Mukesh Ambani and his family in Mumbai, a threatening message from a Telegram account in the name of Jaish ul Hind was posted, along with a demand for payment in a cryptocurrency from Mukesh Ambani. The Islamic terror group Jaish-ul-Hind claimed responsibility for planting the explosives-laden vehicle outside Antilia. However, the same evening, in another letter, Jaish ul Hind said that it had nothing to do with the car found near Ambani’s house. On the same day, Mansukh Hiren was seen going to the commissioner’s office in a white Land Cruiser Prado with Sachin Vaze. This vehicle costing one crore rupees belongs to a Shiv Sena leader. Hiren gets a call from “some Tawde of Kandivli Crime Branch”, who asks him to meet at Ghodbunder Road in Thane.

Hours later, Hiren goes missing. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis makes a sensational disclosure on March 5 in Vidhan Sabha where he claims that Sachin Vaze was in touch with Mansukh Hiren. Hours later, Mansukh Hiren is found dead after being “missing” for five hours. The family members of Mansukh Hiren refuses to accept his body, stating that they will do it only after the police and the administration make his postmortem report public. Hiren’s wife alleges that Sachin Vaze, the Mumbai crime branch officer, killed her husband. The family points towards the letter penned by Hiren in which he alleged that he was mentally harassed in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case.

Later the Maharashtra government transfers all three cases to ATS. The NIA takes over the Ambani bomb scare case, but the Mansukh Hiren death case remains with the Maharashtra ATS. Facing heat from the opposition, the Maharashtra government announces that Sachin Vaze would be removed from the Crime Branch and posted in some other department. Meanwhile, Sachin Vaze is questioned by state ATS in Mansukh Hiren death case, and the NIA team carries raids at different locations in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar. NIA summons Sachin Vaze for questioning, and after 12 hours of interrogation, they arrest him in connection with the case. During the interrogation, Mumbai top cop Sachin Vaze reportedly admits that he was involved in the Antilla Bomb Scare case.

Sachin Vaze says he is just a very small part of the plan and the Shiv Sena leaders he named played a bigger role. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut comes to the rescue of Sachin Vaze, says the tainted cop is “very honest and capable officer”. On March 15 NIA says it has accessed CCTV footage, fingerprints and other evidence against Sachin Vaze. As per NIA, the CCTV footage confirms that Sachin Vaze met Mansukh Hiren on 25th February, the same day, gelatin laden Scorpio was discovered at Antilia.  Meanwhile, The NIA reveals that CCTV footage of Vaze’s society had gone missing. The NIA says Sachin Vaze’s aide API Riyaz Qazi had visited Sachin Vaze’s building in Saket society in Thane and took CCTV footage of and between February 17 to February 24.

After some days, it is disclosed that the CCTV footage was procured by none other than the tainted police officer himself. Vaze had reportedly seized the CCTV footage of his society, stating that the DVR was needed for official use by the police. The footage was subsequently damaged. Vaze had allegedly confiscated the video footage so that no evidence can be found during the interrogation. In another sensational disclosure, the NIA says that the explosives-laden Scorpio car that belonged to Mansukh Hiren that was found outside Antilia was never stolen but used by Assistant Police officer Sachin Vaze. That is the reason Vaze destroyed the CCTV footage, as it would have proven that the car with him before it was planted near Antilia. Not just his residence, Sachin Vaze also collected CCTV footage from a linked to the case, and destroyed it.

He visited the shop where the fake number plates for the Scorpio and the Innova cars were made, and took away the DVR of the CCTV and the register of the shop. On March 17 the NIA seizes a black Mercedes car used by Schin from the Crawford market area. The NIA officials also recover the number plate of the Scorpio car that used to plant bombs outside Antilia from the Mercedes car. The NIA officials also recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 5 lakh, a few clothes and a cash counting machine from the car, in addition to the number plate that was attached to the Scorpio. The car used by the police officer had a fake number plate on it.

On the same day, one of the staff of Vaze admits before the NIA saying that Vaze was seen wearing a PPE kit near Antilia a day before a bomb-laden car was parked outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence. The National Investigating Agency officials also recover a shirt from Sachin Vaze that was allegedly worn inside the PPE kit. Maharashtra government sacks Param Bir Singh as Mumbai Police chief transfers him to DG Home Guard’s post. The investigation into all the three cases are currently active. Let us see further developments.