Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday alleged that former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and dismissed cop Sachin Vaze had planned a bomb threat near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence Antilia in the state capital.
The duo had also planned the "fake" encounter of a goon by showing him as a Pakistani national with the help of a bogus passport (after the bomb scare incident), Malik claimed, while talking to reporters. The NCP leader also claimed that Singh and Vaze had "misled" the state home ministry in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case.
Asked about NCP leader Anil Deshmukh's resignation as the state home minister earlier this year, Malik termed it "politically motivated".
An explosives-laden SUV was found near Ambani's residence in south Mumbai in February this year. A few days later, businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV, was found dead in a creek at Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting a probe into the Antilia bomb scare case. The central agency arrested Vaze in March for his alleged role in the incident. Vaze, who was then serving as an assistant police inspector, was later dismissed from service.
Malik claimed that Singh and Vaze had given wrong briefings to the state home ministry to "mislead" it in the (Antilia bomb scare) case. "Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze had planned the Antilia bomb threat. They had even made a fake passport with the entry and exit stamps of Pakistan for a goon. If Mansukh Hiran wasn't killed or had he surrendered, then both had planned the fake encounter of the goon, showing him as a terrorist," Malik claimed.
The NIA had found a fake passport at Vaze's home, which was also mentioned in the panchnama. The NIA should put it forth before the public, the minister said.
To a query about Deshmukh and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray backing Vaze after the Antilia bomb scare, Malik said that ministers and CMs speak on the basis of briefings from officials. "Singh and Vaze, considering their planning in the case, were briefing the home minister and the CM and based on it, the latter spoke in the legislature. Both the officers were misleading the ministers," he claimed.
Singh was unavailable for comment on Malik's claims.
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