Mansukh Hiren murder case: How Sachin Vaze tweaked facts, destroyed evidence, a timeline

Mumbai: Sachin Vaze was arrested on Saturday (March 13) by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The agency started an investigation on February 25 as the bomb was placed outside the industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence Antilia in South Mumbai.

Sachin Vaze has been taken into custody by NIA. The National Investigation Agency has charged Vaze with sections relating to conspiracy, criminal intimidation, negligent conduct in dealing with explosives, forgery, and possession of counterfeit seal. 

Sachin Vaze was working with the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), Mumbai and was in charge of the investigation into the security scare outside Mukesh Ambani's residence Antilia. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis alleged that Sachin Vaze was in touch with Mansukh Hiren, a person with a car decor business in Thane who had possession of the "Scorpio" car that cause the security scare outside Antilia.

Mansukh Hiren had registered a report of the car missing the week before it appeared in front of the Mukesh Ambani's house. Devendra Fadanvis presented the call recordings between Vaze and Hiren in the state assemble and alleged that Sachin Vaze was the first person to reach the spot where it was parked outside Antilia in Mumbai's Charmichael road. Vaze denied this claim. 

The dead body of Mansukh Hiren was found in Kalwa creek on the same day Fadanvis presented call records in the assembly. Hiren's wife alleged that Sachin Vaze was the one behind her husband's murder. She further alleged that the Scorpio car was with Vaze for many months until February 5 this year. The ATS is investigating the Hiran murder case. It had registered an FIR against an unidentified person.

According to NIA sources, a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado was found parked outside Waze's residence in the Saket area of adjoining Thane. A Mercedes car linked to Sachin Waze was also seized but it was not clear from where it was picked up. The total number of vehicles seized has gone up to five, including another Mercedes, a Scorpio and an Innova.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis claimed that when he was Maharashtra chief minister, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had called him in 2018 to seek reinstatement of the then suspended police officer Sachin Waze into the state police force.

He also accused the Shiv Sena of pressuring him over this demand at that time and demanded an NIA probe into the whole incident involving Sachin Waze.

Devendra Fadanvis said that "It could be a coincidence, but the sheer number of coincidences with regard to Vaze, in this case, is more than in a Bollywood film."

Sachin Vaze joined the Police force in 1990 and was posted to Gadchiroli. He later moved to Thane Police and then Mumbai Police Crime Branch. He worked as Assistant Police Inspector with Mumbai Police. He was one of the members of the famous "encounter specialist" in Mumbai along with Daya Naik and Pradeep Sharma. He left the job in 2007 and later joined Shiv Sena.

He was rehabilitated into the force in June 2020. He was made in charge of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) and he started handling some of the most high-profile cases. He worked on cases such as fake social media followers case where rapper Badshah was summoned, TRP Scam, Dilip Chabria case and Hrithik Roshan's fake email case.