Mumbai: NIA recreates March 4 scene at CSMT with Sachin Waze

NIA officers take Sachin Waze to the sessions court. File pic

Suspended Mumbai police API Sachin Waze, was taken on Monday evening to the CSMT by National Investigation Agency, to recreate the happenings of March 4, with the help of forensic experts. The NIA had recently recovered CCTV footage from CSMT where Waze can be seen taking a local train to Thane, allegedly to execute the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

According to sources in the NIA, on Monday evening, Waze was taken to CSMT platform number 4 from where he took the train to Thane. The agency's sleuths, along with independent panchas, digital forensic experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Pune and officials of the Railway Protection Force were with Waze. A video of Waze walking was shot by the forensic experts to draw a similarity as the person seen walking in CCTV footage, with the help of gesture analysis techniques. The platform was barricaded by the RPF while the scene was recreated.

Earlier, the NIA similarly recreated the scene at Antilia - the Ambani residence - where a person was seen in CCTV footage wearing a kurta, on the night of February 24. The agency initially suspected it was Waze and later confirmed that he came back to Antilia and was wearing a kurta. The scene was recreated by NIA to get scientific evidence confirming that the person was Waze, based on his walking style.

mid-day has earlier reported that to create a strong alibi, Waze left his cell phone at his CIU office, and boarded a local train to Thane on March 4, the day Hiran was killed. Waze was seen in the CCTV footage at the Commissioner of Police's office, walking from the main exit. The agency has also found that after leaving, he came back to the CP office and went behind the new building and climbed over the compound wall to avoid CCTV cameras and then went to CSMT.

Ambani bomb scare case: NIA seizes high-end bike

NIA officers investigate Sachin Vaze's Mercedes. File pic/Bipin Kokate

The NIA has seized a high-end bike, suspected to be registered in the name of an alleged woman associate of API Sachin Waze, arrested for his alleged role in planting an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence, an official said on Monday.

Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) brought the bike in a tempo to its office in south Mumbai on Monday, he said. The woman, an alleged associate of suspended assistant police inspector Waze, was questioned by the NIA on Friday, sources said.

The probe agency had on Thursday searched a flat in Mira Road area which was in the woman's possession, they said. The NIA suspects she accompanied Waze to a city-based hotel on February 16, before the explosives-laden SUV was found near Ambani's residence Antilia on February 25, the sources said. The NIA had earlier seized eight high-end vehicles used by Waze, who was arrested in the case last month. The NIA is also probing the death of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV before it was found with explosives near Ambani's house. Hiran was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5.