Mansukh Hiran death case: NIA custody of 3 accused extended

Mansukh Hiran

Dismissed API Sachin Waze, and his close confidante Sunil Mane, who picked up Mansukh Hiran from Ghodbandar Road on March 4, tried till the last minute to convince him to get arrested in the case. Infact it is learnt that they also told Hiran to disappear for few days and later get arrested and then they would help get him bail. The court has granted custody of Mane, and other accused Santosh Shelar and Anand Jadhav, to the NIA.

According to police sources, as Hiran refused to surrender in these last 26 minutes meeting at Ghodbandar Road inside a white Volkswagen car which Mane was driving, Mane and Waze handed him over to the killers Santosh Shelar, Anand Jadhav, Satish Tirupati Mutkori and Manish Basant Bhai Soni. To get further clarity on everyone's role, the NIA had sought custody of Mane who is in Taloja Jail. Jadhav and Shelar were arrested on June 11 and remanded in NIA custody till June 21. The court has granted custody of Mane, Shelar and Jadhav till June 25 to the NIA. Public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves told the court that Jadhav and Shelar were also involved in the killing of Hiran - one of them held his left hand and the other held his right hand as he was smothered by other two accused present in the car.

Why NIA sought custody

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is close to cracking the conspiracy following the arrest of former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma and his aide Shelar. The agency told the court on Monday that there are more accused wanted in the case, and that's why they need the custody of Mane, to bring him face-to-face with Sharma. The agency has found circumstantial evidence against Sharma, that Mane handed over a cell phone which is suspected to have been used in the crime. The IPDR (internet protocol data record) analysis has helped the agency to find this crucial piece of evidence. The agency also wants to find the whole details of the meeting which Mane and Waze had inside the white Volkswagen car before handing over Mansukh to Shelar. Mane was arrested on April 25 and questioned by NIA for more than a week in custody. Later he was remanded in judicial custody and lodged in Taloja jail alongwith Waze and API Riyazuddin Qazi.

The NIA has already said they have found some DNA samples from the red Tavera car used to kill Hiran. If sources are to be believed, the DNA samples have matched Hiran's and the agency has taken samples of all accused present in the car and sent them to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Pune.