SUV bomb scare case: Sachin Waze says had supercop dreams; NIA unimpressed

Arrested cop Sachin Waze has apparently told the National Investigation Agency that the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare incident was his design as he wanted to earn fame after cracking it ldquoThough he is telling us that the motive for planting the gelatin sticksladen SUV near Antilia is to become a supercop by solving the case in no time yet we are verifying his claimsrdquo said an NIA officer On Thursday a special NIA court extended the arrested coprsquos police remand till April 3Calling it one of the ldquomost seriousrdquo cases in the country Additional Solicitor General Anil C Singh who represented the central agency told the court ldquoEverybody is shocked in which a police officer is involved to commit such an offence which resulted in the death of a personrdquoBasing their argument for Wazersquos extended custody NIA said it had recovered 62 ldquounaccountedrdquo bullets from his home It has recovered five of the 30 bullets that had been officially issued to Waze ldquoNIA seeks his custody to know where those missing bullets are which were officially issued to him Also for what purpose 62 unaccounted bullets were kept at his houserdquo Singh saidThe law officer said the agency has just taken over the Mansukh Hiran murder case ldquoThe investigating officer has to go through the documents of the Mansukh Hiran caserdquo he said Singh adding that the agency has invoked the Unlawful Activities of Prevention Act or UAPA in the Antilia bomb scare to make it watertightJustify UAPA defenceDefence lawyer Abad Ponda countered ldquoCan you justify the applicability of UAPA in this case You chose to add sections of UAPA to extend custodyrdquo About the gelatin sticks in the Scorpio Ponda said ldquoThe gelatin stick cannot cause destruction without a detonator it cannot be lethal by itself It burns out slowlyrdquo ldquoWe are short of terrorist act in this case and hence there is no scope of going beyond the custody of 14 daysrdquo Ponda arguedPonda read out section 15 of UAPA Act to buttress his stand that the stringent law could not be pressed in this case The section points to actions with ldquointent to threaten the unity integrity security or sovereignty of India or to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign countryrdquo with the help of firearms or other lethal materials including poisons noxious gases and biological weaponsldquoThe intention is required to invoke this section of UAPA in this case But the intention is completely absent in this case Just applying UAPA does not serve the purposerdquo Ponda told the court ldquoBesides explosives the agency has also recovered two letters from the SUVrdquo Singh said Ponda responded ldquoThreat letter is intimidating It does not fall under UAPArdquoHowever insisting his demand to seek an extension in the police remand Singh told the court that the NIA officers do not know why the explosivesladen SUV was found abandoned near Ambani house ldquoWe need his custody to know if the detonator was to be used in future after parking a vehicle with explosives on the road which is a public place Its purpose is to threatenrdquo Singh said and added ldquoThe Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina has given a positive report that these gelatin sticks are explosivesrdquoSingh also told the court that the central agency has taken custody of two men who are accused who were arrested by the state AntiTerrorism Squad in connection with Hiranrsquos murder ldquoWe need Wazersquos custody to know how the two accused suspended cop Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gaur are connected with this accusedrdquo Special judge NIA Prashant Sitre agreed with the central agency and extended Wazersquos custody for another 9 daysIrsquove been made a scapegoat Waze tells NIA courtDuring the 2hour argument over the extension of Sachin Wazes custody in the special NIA court on Wednesday the suspended cop sought permission to speak ldquoMy lord I have to say somethingrdquo Waze uttered in the packed courtroom His feeble tone however grabbed everyonersquos attention including Special NIA judge Prashant SitreAfter getting approval Waze made two steps forward and said ldquoI have been made scapegoat in this case I have nothing to do with this crime I was the investigating officer only for one and half days Besides me city police and ATS too investigated the case On March 13 I had myself gone to the NIA Mumbai office but I was placed under arrestrdquoHe continued ldquoI have cooperated in the investigation till now They claim that I have confessed to my crime but I have not confessed anything I have to pray that I should not be sent into police remand againrdquo Judge Sitre stopped Waze saying ldquoWhatever you have to say say through your advocate or submit in writingrdquoAn NIA officer told midday that the statements of more than 35 people have been recorded The NIA sleuths have recovered the CCTV footage of multiple places to investigate the Antilia bomb scare episode which resulted in the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh HiranldquoWe have collected multiple DVRs digital video recorders of CCTV cameras in connection with the case the collective size of this footage is a whopping 112 TBrdquo said the officer Talking about DCP EOW Parag Manere who visited NIA office on Wednesday the NIA officer said ldquoWe had called him to have clarity on certain thingsrdquoThe officer said that the statements of Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police Crime Milind Bharambe and former city police chief Param Bir Singh have not been recorded yet and ldquoif required we will call them for the samerdquo said the officer03 AprilDate till which Wazersquos custody has been extended