By Express News Service
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday saw noisy scenes as leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis demanded the arrest of a police officer in the Mansukh Hiran death case, and Home Minister Anil Deshmukh blamed the former chief minister for “covering up” the Anvay Naik suicide case.
Fadnavis demanded action against API Sachin Vaze in connection with the death of Hiran who was in possession of the SUV with explosives found outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house in south Mumbai.
The Naik suicide case, in which journalist Arnab Goswami had been arrested, was raked up, with the home minister saying the government will probe the “cover-up” of the case by then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The House was adjourned seven times with MLAs ignoring COVID-19 norms of physical distancing and use of masks.
A Scorpio, with 20 gelatin sticks inside, was found near Antilia, Ambani’s high-rise residence in south Mumbai, on February 25.
Police said the vehicle was stolen from Hiran’s possession on February 18.
The mystery deepened after Hiran’s body was found in a creek last Friday in neighbouring Thane.
Citing the statement by Hiran’s wife, Fadnavis claimed that Vaze was in possession of the car for four months.
“The Innova car which was behind the Scorpio is in Mumbai as per my information.
Give me some time, I will trace it,” he added.
Fadnavis claimed that Hiran’s wife had alleged in her statement to police that her husband may have been killed by assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze.
“She told police that her husband knew Vaze and the Scorpio was with the police officer from November 2020 to February 5, 2021,” Fadnavis said.
“She had also said her husband was with Vaze on February 27, 28 and March 2.
The complaint letter (of Hiran) addressed to the chief minister, deputy chief minister and police commissioners of Mumbai and Thane was written on the instructions of Vaze,” Fadnavis alleged.
The BJP leader claimed that Hiran’s last location was found with Dhananjay Vithal Gawde, against whom an FIR was lodged in an extortion case.
The other person mentioned in the same FIR was Sachin Vaze, Fadnavis added.
As Fadnavis raised the Hiran case, minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab sought the arrest of those named in Delkar’s suicide note.
Delkar (58), a seven-term MP from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli, was found dead at a hotel on Marine Drive in south Mumbai on February 22.
The home minister announced formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Delkar’s death.
Deshmukh said Delkar had mentioned in the suicide note that he was under pressure from the Union Territory’s administrator Praful Kheda Patel who had been a minister in the Narendra Modi-led cabinet in Gujarat.
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Fadnavis said Vaze was being protected as he belonged to the ruling party.
Vaze had joined the Shiv Sena in 2008 while under suspension.
Vaze was suspended in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case and but was reinstated in his job last year during the COVID-19 lockdown, Fadnavis said.
“When I was the chief minister, the issue of reinstating Vaze had come up but the advocate general had advised against it,” Fadnavis said.
While announcing the SIT probe in the Delkar case, home minister Deshmukh said the MP had said in the suicide note that he was ending his life in Mumbai as he had faith in Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra government.
“Earlier, IAS officer Rajesh Kumar Shrivastav from Madhya Pradesh had ended his life in Nagpur in Maharashtra, the minister said.
“This officer felt he will not get justice in Raipur, in a BJP-ruled state,” Deshmukh said.
BJP members were quick to point out that the officer was from Chhattisgarh and not Madhya Pradesh.
“The home minister feels happy that people come to Maharashtra to commit suicide. He doesn’t even know Raipur is in Chhattisgarh and not in Madhya Pradesh,” Fadnavis said.
Deshmukh said he had already corrected himself.
Fadnavis wondered if the home minister wanted Maharashtra to be known as a place where people come to die.
“Is this a matter of pride,” the BJP leader asked.
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Jumping into the debate on the Mansukh Hiran death case, Nana Patole of the Congress asked how did Fadnavis get hold of the call data record (CDR), and how an unidentified vehicle could reach so close to Ambani’s house.
Patole also asked on what basis Fadnavis said the vehicle found outside Ambani’s house did not have explosives.
Bhaskar Jadhav (Shiv Sena) said the BJP was targeting Vaze as he had arrested Goswami in the Naik suicide case.
Deshmukh said Fadnavis’s own role in the “cover-up” of that case will be probed.
Fadnavis said the government was resorting to threats to save Vaze, and dared it to order a probe against him.
As noisy scenes continued despite several adjournments, the House was adjourned for the day.
Meanwhile, Vimla Hiran, wife of Mansukh Hiran, has alleged in her statement to the ATS that Vaze might have killed her husband.
The police officer did not offer comment immediately on the allegations.
After a Scorpio with explosives was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house in south Mumbai on February 25, Hiran, a Thane resident, had claimed it had been stolen from his possession a week earlier.
Hiran himself was found dead in Thane creek on March 5.
Vimla Hiran recorded her statement before the state Anti-Terrorism Squad, which is probing the case, on March 7.
According to the statement, the Scorpio, owned by Dr Peter Newton, was in the possession of the Hiran family for the past three years with Dr Newton’s consent.
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Her husband knew API Vaze who was a regular client of Mansukh’s car decor business, she said.
In November 2020, he had given the Scorpio to Vaze to use, Vimla Hiran said, adding that the police officer returned it on February 5, 2021, through a driver.
Her husband had then told her that the steering of the SUV was hard, she said.
On February 17 Mansukh left for Mumbai in the SUV for business-related trip, but as the steering got jammed, he left it after crossing the Mulund toll plaza and took a cab, she said.
The next day when he returned to the spot with one of his employees, it was missing, so he lodged a complaint of car theft at Vikhroli Police Station, she said.
On February 25, when the SUV with gelatin sticks was found near Ambani’s house, her husband got a call from an ATS inspector, she said.
Mansukh and their son Lucky then went to meet the officer near their building, she told the police.
The officer showed him a picture of the SUV and Hiran identified it.
He later told her that he went with Sachin Vaze to the Mumbai police’s crime branch the next morning for inquiry and returned around 10.30 pm with Vaze.
He showed her a copy of his recorded statement which also bore the name and signature of Vaze, Vimla told the ATS.
On March 2, Mansukh told her that he had gone to Mumbai with Vaze, and on his insistence filed a complaint addressed to the Chief Minister, Home Minister and police commissioners of Mumbai and Thane about harassment faced from the media and police, her statement said.
She asked him if he had been tortured and Mansukh denied, but said he was constantly getting calls.
On March 3 he told her that Vaze had asked him to get arrested in the case and assured that he (Vaze) will get him out on bail within 2-3 days, the statement claimed.
She advised him against doing any such thing and he seemed tensed, she told the ATS.
On March 4, her husband called his brother Vinod Hiran and said he needed a lawyer to apply for anticipatory bail as he feared arrest, Vimla said in the statement.
He returned home early the same day, and said he had to go out again as a police officer named Tawde wanted to meet him, she said.
He was going to Ghodbunder Road to consult the police who were their well-wishers, he assured her.
Mansukh left in an auto rickshaw and after 11 pm his phone became unreachable, so she called Vinod Hiran.
Vinod called Vaze who advised him to wait till morning, she said.
Next day Vinod filed a missing person complaint and around 3.30 pm her son informed her that Mansukh’s body has been found in the creek, she told the ATS.
Her husband was a good swimmer so he could not have drowned in the creek, she stated.
She suspected that her husband might have been killed by Sachin Vaze, Vimla Hiran said in the statement, demanding a thorough probe.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday, API Vaze said he would go through her allegations and only then respond.
(With PTI Inputs)