The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has refused bail to former police constable Vinayak Shinde booked in connection with the Antilia bomb scare and businessman Mansukh Hiren murder cases. The court said there can’t be a parity between Shinde and the other accused who have been granted bail as he misused parole to engage in criminal activity.
Shinde was one of the police officers held guilty for the fake encounter case of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was out on parole when the Antilia bomb scare incident took place in February 2021. Shinde was arrested on March 21 that year.
Conspiracy unearthed
As per his bail petition, the other accused – Naresh Gor, Riyazuddin Kazi and Pradeep Sharma – played a major role in the alleged conspiracy as compared to Shinde and have been granted bail.
Ruling out bail, the court said that Shinde associated with the main accused right from the beginning. As per the court, Gor had procured dummy SIM cards from his native place, Kazi had aided main accused, dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze, in the destruction of evidence of CCTV footage, while Sharma hired the henchman to kill Hiran by offering huge amount of money received from Vaze.
