Say they found hawker from whom arrested officer allegedly bought hankie found on Mansukh Hiran's body
ATS officers near the creek in Mumbra where Hiran’s body was found
The National Investigation Agency probing the Mansukh Hiran murder case has recorded the statement of a hawker who has been selling handkerchiefs outside Kalwa railway station. The agency suspects arrested cop Sachin Waze bought a few hankies from this vendor before meeting Hiran on March 4.
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The body of Hiran was found in a creek near Mumbra on March 5
Sources in the NIA said CCTV footage from the location shows a person with a similar appearance as Waze buys many handkerchieves from the hawker. Waze is accused of getting Hiran, a car decor dealer from Thane, killed. Hiran’s SUV was found loaded with explosives near Mukesh Ambani’s home Antilia on February 25.
Sources in NIA CCTV footage from the location shows a person who looks like Waze buys many handkerchieves from the hawker.
When Hiran’s body was found in a creek near Mumbra, it had a monkey cap and handkerchieves in his mouth. NIA suspects the pieces of cloth were purchased from the Kalwa hawker.
The NIA is painstakingly piecing together direct and circumstantial evidence to make a watertight case against Waze and the other accused, said sources.
The handkerchieves found on Mansukh Hiran’s body
Waze initially tried to get off the hook by telling probe agencies that he was in Mumbai on the day of Hiran’s murder. However, the Maharashtra ATS and NIA demolished his alibi with footage of CCTVs from multiple locations. The visuals show that Waze took a local train on March 4 after leaving behind his phone in the police commissioner’s office to show that he was at work. Waze reached Kalwa station around 8.30 pm and most likely bought the hankies from the hawker, who has now been questioned.
The agency did not confirm if the hawker has identified Waze.
The ATS, which initially probed the murder case and arrested two more people, had peserved the handkerchieves. These were later sent to the Kalina Directorate Forensic Science Laboratory to check if they had any traces of chloroform or any other chemical that might have been used to render Hiran senseless before killing him.
Sources said the forensic lab didn’t find traces of any chemical on the hankies. “Chloroform is a volatile compound and as the body was inside water for several hours, if any chemical was used to make the person unconscious, the possibility to trace the same is very less. Also, it depends how the handkerchieves were preserved once they were removed from the creek,” said a forensic scientist.
Sachin Waze at JJ hospital on April 8. Pic/Suresh Karkera
The NIA is taking a second opinion from the Center Directorate Forensic Science Laboratory in Pune on the findings of the Kalina lab.
The NIA has so far arrested 5 people in the Ambani bomb scare and Hiran murder case. They include API Waze, PI Sunil Mane and API Riyazuddin Qazi.
With inputs from Diwakar Sharma
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