The Mumbai Police suspended officer Riyaz Kazi on Monday, a day after he was arrested in connection with the investigation into the bomb threat outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in February, reported PTI. Kazi is an assistant police inspector and an associate of Sachin Vaze, the officer who had been arrested on March 13 in case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near Mukesh Ambani’s residence in Mumbai.
The National Investigation Agency has claimed that Kazi helped Vaze acquire fake number plates used for the vehicle that was found laden with explosives outside the Ambani residence on February 25.
Vaze led the Mumbai Police’s Crime Intelligence Unit, where Kazi was earlier posted, till the latter was taken into custody last month. The Mumbai Police suspended Vaze on March 15 after the NIA arrested him.
Kazi has also been accused of helping Vaze get rid of evidence linking him to the case, reported The Indian Express. He was transferred from the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch unit in March, according to Mumbai Mirror.
Monday’s suspension order, which came from Additional Commissioner of Police (arms unit) Virendra Mishra, said that Kazi could not take on any private work and also warned that action will be taken against him if the order was flouted. He was asked to appear before the local arms unit every Friday.
The bomb threat case
Twenty gelatin sticks were recovered from a black Scorpio found less than two kilometres from Ambani’s multi-storey home Antilia in February. The police had said that the gelatin recovered from the car was the commercial type that is used in mining and construction. On March 5, Mansukh Hiren, the reported owner of the vehicle, was found dead in a creek in Mumbai.
On March 13, the NIA, after taking over the case from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, arrested Vaze for his alleged links with Hiren.
The central agency is reportedly also in possession of some CCTV footage, which shows Kazi entering a number plates shop in Vikhroli area in Mumbai, and having a conversation with the outlet’s owner. He was also reportedly seen taking away a digital video recorder and a computer from the shop.
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