Mumbai: Dismissed cop Sachin Waze, an accused in the Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case, has moved a plea before the special NIA court, raising questions about the absence of statements from the alleged victims, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani.“This means even after more than five years none of the alleged real victims have come forward yet to mention that any of them or all of them indeed received any threat or for that matter any or all of them were indeed terrorised by some anonymous silly threat note as well as by unexplodable minor stuff of explosives,” the plea said.Waze noted that while the investigating agency previously reserved the right to record statements from the Ambani family as and when necessary, their names currently do not even appear in the official list of individuals whose statements are not recorded.Waze mentioned this in his plea seeking that the case diary and station diary in the case be called for before the first witness steps into the witness box and kept in sealed condition on the court record.The plea says the case diary should be secured before trial begins to prevent later insertions, corrections or omissions.The court directed the prosecution to submit replies and adjourned the matter to Friday.Waze also alleged that many witnesses were pressurised by NIA officers to record statements as per a set narrative. “This applies to the accused Manish Soni too. He was pressurised as well as lured by an officer…. This fact is on record of this… court,” Waze said in his plea.The plea also challenges NIA’s explanation for making early inquiries before formal authorisation by the central govt. Waze has cited NIA’s stand that “the Ambani Family’s residence ‘Antilia’ and the NIA’s branch office Mumbai at the MTNL Building, share common compound wall, being neighbours, and to gather intelligence and know or check the damage assessment caused to the security related to the MTNL Building and the vicinity, the NIA for its own security had sent the said officers to gather basic information about the crime from applicant (Waze) at his office of CIU, Mumbai Police.”Waze has disputed this explanation, saying NIA’s powers are governed by NIA Act and the agency cannot act as a “neighbourhood care” body.On Feb 25, 2021, an SUV with explosives was found near Antilia, industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai. The prosecution has claimed that Hiran, the vehicle owner, was murdered on March 4, 2021, because he knew of the conspiracy. Ten accused, including dismissed police officers Waze, Sunil Mane and Pradeep Sharma, have been named. Waze was arrested that same month. The accused have been charged with several charges including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.
