A resident of Aurangabad has claimed that the number plate recovered by the NIA as part of its probe into the death of auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran - the owner of the explosives-laden SUV found near businessman Mukesh Ambani's home earlier this month, and whose body was found a few days later - is registered to his car, which he reported stolen in November last year.
Vijay Nade, an Aurangabad resident who works as clerk with the social justice department in Jalna, approached the City Chowk police station in Aurangabad on Monday after he started getting calls from journalists about the number plate of his vehicle, the police official said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the cases of the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV found outside the south Mumbai residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani last month and subsequent murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, the purported owner of that vehicle.
The probe agency on Sunday took suspended Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze to the Mithi river in Mumbai and recovered two digital video recorders (DVRs), two CPUs, a laptop, two hard disks, two number plates and a printer with the help of divers.
His vehicle was stolen from Aurangabad in November last year and he had lodged a case of theft at the City Chowk police station there, the official said.
"There is an FIR of vehicle theft on November 17 last year. So far, there is no communication from the probe Agency (NIA), but we will provide all assistance to them in the case," Aurangabad City Chowk police station's senior inspector Sambhaji Powar said.
Nade told PTI on Tuesday he had lodged a complaint of van theft and has CCTV footage of that incident.
"I had submitted all the documents and related evidence to police, but they were not able to trace the vehicle. Suddenly, on Monday, I got information from journalists about the number plate of my vehicle recovered from the Mithi river," he said.
It is suspected that Assistant Police Inspector Riyazuddin Kazi had told the NIA during his interrogation that this evidence were thrown into the Mithi river.
Kaazi, who is close to Vaze, was questioned by the NIA multiple times in the recent past.
It was Kaazi who allegedly took away the DVR from Vaze's housing society on the latter's instructions.
The body of Hiran, a resident of Thane, was found in Mumbra creek on March 5.
With PTI inputs
