Aurangabad man claims NIA-recovered number plate belongs to his vehicle
A resident of Aurangabad, Maharashtra has claimed one of the number plates recovered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the Mithi river in Mumbai belonged to his van which was stolen last year. The NIA on Sunday had taken Sachin Vaze to the river and recovered two digital video recorders, two CPUs, a laptop, two hard disks, two number plates, and a printer.
NIA is currently investigating two related cases
The 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 the subsequent murder of businessman Mansukh Hiren, the purported owner of that vehicle.
Man was getting calls from journalists about the number plate
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. "One of the number plates, which was dumped into the river, belonged to Nade's vehicle," he said.
FIR of vehicle theft was lodged on November 17
His vehicle was reportedly stolen from Aurangabad in November last year and a case of theft was lodged at the City Chowk Police Station. "There is an FIR of vehicle theft on November 17 last year. So far, there is no communication from the probe agency, but we will provide all assistance to them in the case," the station's senior inspector Sambhaji Powar said.
Nade submitted all relevant documents at the time of complaint
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.
Reportedly, Vaze's close aide Kaazi told NIA about the evidences
Assistant Police Inspector Riyazuddin Kaazi, who is close to Vaze, is believed to have told the NIA during his interrogation that pieces of evidence were thrown into the Mithi river. Kaazi was questioned by the NIA multiple times. It was Kaazi who allegedly took the DVR from Vaze's housing society on the latter's instructions. Hiren's body was found in Mumbra creek on March 5.
