Suspended Assistant Police Inspector Riyazuddin Kazi, arrested by the National Investigation Agency on Sunday in the Antilia Bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case, will be produced before a special NIA court today as his custody with the agency ends.
Kazi was last produced before a holiday court on Sunday that had remanded him in the NIA’s custody till 16 April. Today he will be produced before a holiday court again, with the subordinate courts being shut on Thursday and Friday in view of the surge in Coronavirus.
A day following his arrest, Kazi, who was Sachin Vaze’s subordinate in the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU), had been suspended. NIA alleges Kazi destroyed important evidence linked to the case such as CCTV footage from a number plate shop in Vikhroli where fake number plates used in the Scorpio car laden with explosives parked outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence, was made. He also allegedly collected CCTV footage of Vaze’s residence where the Scorpio was parked prior to the incident of 25 February when it was found parked outside Antilia, the industrialist's residence.
Vaze, who has been at the centre of the controversial case, was remanded in judicial custody by the special NIA court on 9 April. He had spent close to a month under custodial interrogation since his arrest by the central agency on 13 March.
Constable Vinayak Shinde and an alleged bookie Naresh Gor who were earlier arrested by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in auto parts dealer Hiran’s murder case had also been taken in custody by the NIA after it had taken over the Hiran case. The agency claimed the two were connected. The NIA has alleged that Shinde and Vaze were present in a meeting held to eliminate Hiran and Gor had provided SIM cards used in the conspiracy to kill Hiran.
