In a fresh salvo of allegations, Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday claimed that the bomb scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia in Mumbai had been planned by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and controversial police officer Sachin Vaze, who was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in connection with the security scare case.
Both Mr. Singh and Mr. Vaze had apparently misled the State Government on the case with their “wrong briefings” to the State Home Ministry, Mr. Malik said. He said they had allegedly planned the “fake” encounter of a goon by showing him as a Pakistani national and planting a bogus passport on his person.
“Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze had planned the Antilia bomb threat. They planned a fake encounter of a goon and put a false passport on him with its entry and exit stamps marked from Pakistan,” alleged Mr. Malik.
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An explosives-laden SUV was found near Mr. Ambani’s residence in February. A few days later, businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV, was found dead in a creek in neighbouring Thane district.
The Central agency had in March arrested Mr. Vaze for his alleged role in the case. Then serving as an assistant police inspector, he was later dismissed from service.
Mr. Malik said the NIA had found a fake passport at Mr. Vaze’s home and urged the agency to make it public.
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To questions that it was Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who had backed Mr. Vaze after the Antilia bomb scare, Mr. Malik said a CM or a Minister spoke only on the basis of the briefings received from officials and that both Mr. Singh and Mr. Vaze had misled the Government.