The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was issued a notice on Monday by the Bombay High Court to file a reply to the plea filed by dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze in the Antilia case.
Waze filed a petition challenging the invocation of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against him and handing over the Antilia bomb hoax and businessman Mansukh Hiran murder case investigation over to the NIA.
Special Public Prosecutor Sandesh Patil, appearing for the NIA, waived notice and was directed to file a reply to the petition filed by Waze, who is in jail in connection with the case.
On Monday, the bench of Justices Bharti Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande scanned the thick 185-page petition filed from jail by Waze himself and said, “Is this a petition or a thesis? It has quoted Oscar Wilde and all. This seems like a thesis for a PhD.”
Appearing for Waze, advocates Aabad Ponda and Rounak Naik submitted that though the habeus corpus petition makes a prayer for interim relief in the form of an interim bail, it is not being pressed right now. Ponda explained that the accused has nothing else to do in prison except for devouring books, reading and writing petitions and ‘sharpening pencils of mind’.
Waze’s attorneys argued that UAPA provisions have been wrongly invoked in the case. “The provisions of UAPA cannot be applied in cases all and sundry. This is just a case of gelatine recovered outside someone’s residence in Mumbai. There was no terror caused,” Ponda submitted. He also pointed out that the NIA had begun its probe even before the case was formally handed over to it, which is another ground to challenge the decision in the filed plea.
A similar petition had been filed by Waze in Delhi High Court, but the court decided not to hear it on the ground of territorial jurisdiction.
The case in question has to do with an explosives-laden SUV which was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai on February 25, 2021.
The NIA’s case is that Waze, in conspiracy with the other accused, parked the explosives-laden SUV, owned by businessman Mansukh Hiran, to threaten the businessman and extort money. The case further alleges that Hiran was in possession of the SUV which is at the heart of the entire investigation and claimed that it was stolen. According to NIA, when Hiran later said he would reveal the truth, the accused persons allegedly killed him.
Hiran was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5, 2021.