THE ‘T' COMPANY

Thane emerges as a crucial link in Bombgate. The suspected cops in the case had all been posted in the satellite city to Mumbai’s north. The murderer and his victim lived there too

- KIRAN D. TARE

Nearly a month after an explosi vesladen SUV was found parked a short distance from Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia, all investigative leads seem to be converging in Thane, a satellite city north of Mumbai.

The two vehicles—a white Innova, allegedly driven by assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, and the light-green Scorpio, allegedly driven by one of his aides—started towards South Mumbai from Thane, 30 km away, on February 24. On the intervening night of February 24-25, the Scorpio was left parked 500 metres away from the Ambani residence on Carmichael Road, with 20 sticks of commercial blasting gelatin and a note threatening the family inside the vehicle.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the central agency now probing the incident and the murder of the original Scorpio owner, businessman Mansukh Hiran, believes the conspiracy was hatched in Vaze’s fourth-floor office just two floors below the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s office at Crawford Market. Vaze headed the sensitive Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) within the crime branch, a team of 20 officers and 70 constables tasked with investigating crime across the city’s zonal jurisdictions.

Vaze and Hiran had known each other for five-odd years. Both lived in Thane, their houses just 4 km apart. Hiran ran a car decor shop near his house on Ambedkar Road, close to the Civil Hospital. He also had an office in Crawford Market, close to the police commissioner’s HQ.