A special court that granted bail to accused Naresh Gaur in the Antilia bomb scare - Mansukh Hiran murder case, has said in its detailed order that prima facie it could not be gathered that he had an active knowledge of the conspiracy.
The 31-year-old was the first among 10 accused in the case to secure bail. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had charged him with conspiring with the other nine co-accused in the crime. It alleged that he had procured 14 cards, of which one was used in businessman Hiran’s murder by the prime accused and now dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze. Gaur, through his advocate Aniket Nikam had claimed that he was not aware of the purpose for which they were going to be used.
Special judge under the NIA Act AT Wankhede said in his order, “Apparently, the applicant provided five SIM cards to accused Vinayak Shinde who then gave it to Sachin Vaze. He had done the said act as per the directions of his owner...prime facie it could not be gathered that he was having an active knowledge of the conspiracy.”
Judge Wankhede noted that Gaur has been behind bars since March 21 this year and considering the role attributed to him, the probe against him being completed and the chargesheet filed, it said there is no propriety to keep him behind bars.
The court also noted that the SIM cards were not directly provided to Vaze by Gaur. It referred to a statement of a protected witness in the case who had stated that Vaze had threatened the witness to provide him with SIM cards, upon which the witness had directed Gaur to procure them.
The court also said that there is nothing on record that he has ever contacted accused Sachin Vaze. He had no direct connection or contact with Sachin Vaze, it said.
