The National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody of arrested-suspended Mumbai cop Sachin Vaze, the prime accused in the SUV and Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran’s death cases, has been extended till April 7 by a Mumbai Special Court.
Further, the court has also directed NIA to extend any medical assistance that may be required by Vaze following a plea by his lawyers and also directed the probe agency to furnish a detailed health status report of the accused at the next date.
Vaze was produced before the Special Court by the NIA after his remand ended and the agency demanded a further week’s custody of the accused as the probe into the conspiracy angles of both cases was in the final stages.
Additional Solicitor-General Anil Singh, representing the NIA, said that the investigators have unearthed several incriminating pieces of evidence like a DVR of CCTV footage, laptops and other things which need to be examined and verified.
The NIA is not only investigating the case of the SUV abandoned with gelatin sticks and a threat note near the home of industrialist Mukesh Ambani but also other related cases like the death of Mansukh Hiran in which Vaze is the prime accused, he added.
The NIA will produce the 3 main accused in the case arrested to date, Vaze, a convicted cop Vinayak Shinde and a cricket bookie Naresh Gaur before the Special NIA Court at the next hearing on April 7.
The NIA has to date seized 9 vehicles used/driven by Vaze, including the two latest additions, an Audi and a white Mercedes Benz which will undergo forensic tests.
An SUV Scorpio was found near the Antilia on February 25 followed by the mysterious death of Hiran whose body was fished out of the Thane Creek marshes on March 5, both cases sparking off a major political row, and leading to Vaze’s arrest on March 12.
(With IANS inputs)