A special court on Tuesday extended the custody of suspended constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gaur till April 7 after the NIA sought more time to question them saying it was close to cracking the Manshukh Hiran murder case. Shinde and Gaur were first arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and later handed over to the National Investigation Agency following a court directive.

The two are suspected to have connived with arrested API Sachin Waze in getting rid of Hiran, whose purported Scorpio, laden with gelatin sticks, was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai on February 25. A threat letter in English was also recovered from the SUV. Special Public Prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves told the court of judge Prashant Sitre that they have found a note listing 14 mobile numbers. “Five out of the 14 numbers were handed over to API Sachin Waze,” said Gonsalves.