Mumbai: Two men arrested in connection with the security scare at industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and the subsequent murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, had gone to Nepal after the murder of Hiran, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday told a special NIA court while seeking an extended custody of the duo.
The agency also informed the court that it had recovered cash of Rs. 35,000 from them. Their advocate Rahul Arote argued against their custody and said that the grounds are repetitive and identical to what were raised while seeking custody earlier. The court granted the NIA the duo’s custody till 5 July.
Last week when the men were produced before the court, the agency had informed the court that it needed their further custody as they had made some travels outside India as well as Mumbai soon after the murder. These travels were possibly funded by co-accused who wanted to camouflage their involvement in the crime, it had further said. It had sought their custody since they had allegedly received huge cash for their part in the offence and the money trail had to be probed.
During the last remand, it had also informed the court that Mothkuri had smothered the auto parts dealer and Soni, was driving the Tavera car on the day of the incident. Two other men arrested a little before them - Anand Jadhav and Sathosh Shelar had been present in the car, it had said earlier.
The duo had been arrested along with former police officer and encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma on 17 June. The NIA claims the duo and two others had involved in the murder at the behest of Sharma and dismissed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze, who was the first to be arrested in the case.
