After his arrest, Kazi was produced before a holiday court here which remanded him in the National Investigation Agency‘s (NIA) custody till April 16 for further probe into the case. “Assistant police inspector (API) Kazi was called for questioning again by the NIA on Sunday and later placed under arrest,” the police official said.
He was previously also questioned multiple times by the NIA in connection with the case of the SUV with explosives found near Ambani’s multi-storey residence ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai on February 25 and the subsequent death of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.
Kazi was shunted out of the Mumbai Crime Branch last month, the official said.
After Kazi was presented in the court on Sunday, the NIA told the court that he was arrested for destroying evidences and that he is involved in the conspiracy of the case along with Waze, the main accused in the case.
While seeking his remand for 10 days, the prosecution said that when the NIA started conducting a parallel probe soon after explosives-laden vehicle was found, the accused allegedly killed Hiran fearing that he will disclose their plan. The prosecution also submitted that Kazi was well aware of the crime.
After the case was transferred to the central agency, the accused started destroying evidences like CPU and DVR and others, the NIA told the court.
Kazi’s custody is required to confront him with every recovered article, documents, witnesses. Waze has given half the facts and Kazi’s interrogation is required to find out under whose guidance he destroyed the evidence, it said. He also needs to be interrogated about the source of the gelatin sticks (found in the SUV).
Opposing the remand plea, Kazi’s lawyer, Hasnain Kazi, argued that his client was not involved in the destruction of evidence.
The accused has been going to the NIA office for interrogation since the last 20 days and co-operating with the investigation, hence his custody was not required, the lawyer said. After hearing both sides, the judge remanded the accused to NIA’s custody till April 16.
According to police, in a CCTV footage, Kazi was seen entering a number plates shop in suburban Vikhroli and having a conversation with the outlet’s owner. He was also seen taking away a digital video recorder and a computer of the shop. Kazi was also seen collecting CCTV footage from Waze’s housing complex in neighbouring Thane, the official said.
The probe agency suspects that Kazi assisted Waze in obtaining fake number plates used for the SUV found with explosives near Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai, he said. Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV, was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5.
The NIA arrested Waze on March 13 in connection with its probe into the case. The probe agency had also arrested former policeman Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gor. All three are currently in judicial custody.