An accused in Ambani residence security scare - Mansukh Hiran murder case, alleged bookie Naresh Gaur on Saturday became the first accused among 10 accused in the case to get bail. The order, however, was stayed by the court for 25 days as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought to challenge it before the Bombay High Court.
This is Gaur’s second bail application. The first, that the 31-year-old had filed a month after his arrest in March, was rejected by the special NIA court.
The NIA had claimed that he had provided SIM cards which were used in the crime by now dismissed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze. It claimed he had allegedly provided them to co-accused Vinayak Shinde who had in turn handed them to Sachin Vaze.
Gaur’s advocate Aniket Nikam had argued that Sachin Vaze, who is chargesheeted as the key conspirator in the crime, had never contacted Gaur nor even exchanged messages, calls neither ever met with him. Further, that the NIA’s allegation that he is a co-conspirator is unfounded as there is no evidence he was aware of the end-objectives of the conspiracy, as is required by law to hold one a co-conspirator.
Nikam had further argued that merely by providing SIM cards, it cannot be said he was part of the conspiracy as he was unaware of the purpose for which they were being used. The court was also told that he should have been made a witness in the case and instead has been made an accused.
