Antilia bomb scare case: Bombay HC rejects bail plea of former police officer Pradeep Sharma

Mumbai: Bombay High Court while rejecting the bail plea of former police officer Pradeep Sharma has said that the NIA has not established any link between the accused Sharma and the dismissed police officer Sachin Waze. Sharma was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Antilia terror scare case.

The court observed that even the NIA has said that Sachin Waze and some other people planted gelatin outside Antilia. The NIA chargesheet, however, did not mention the names of the co-conspirators of Sachin Waze with whom he had conspired to leave a car laden with the gelatin sticks outside the Ambani building. The case pertains to the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren and parking a car full of explosives outside Antilia, the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The court also observed that if such a big conspiracy was happening, then it could not be the work of Sachin Waze alone.

Sharma was booked for charges including murder, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, causing disappearance, and destruction of evidence under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.

However, during the hearing of bail plea by Sharma on Monday, the advocate representing the NIA said Sachin Waze created this conspiracy along with Pradeep Sharma, while nothing to this sort was mentioned in the chargesheet. Along with this, the court has also commented that the NIA has not investigated the role of Pradeep Sharma in this respect.

Long before the incident, Sachin Waze stayed in Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai for about 100 days where he used a fake Aadhaar card as identity card, paid in cash. However, these things have not been investigated by NIA in this case. The NIA has not investigated the people who were also involved in the conspiracy with him.

On the question of leaving a threat note in the name of the noted business family, the NIA lawyers claimed that Sachin Waze is responsible for that along with leaving a message on the Telegram channel Jaish-ul-Hind. However, no evidence or statement could be produced by the NIA in support of their claims.

A bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice RN Laddha observed that the NIA charge sheet prima facie does not mention that Pradeep Sharma was involved in the conspiracy to plant gelatin sticks in the vehicle. However, the NIA has charged the former policeman with an offence relating to the vehicle.
The court said that we hope and trust that the NIA will investigate this aspect further and seriously. (ANI)