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No Evidence Ambanis Were Terrorised: Court Grants Bail to Ex-Cop Sachin Waze in Antilia Case
Mumbai – In a scathing order that left the red-faced, a special court here on Tuesday granted to dismissed police officer Sachin Waze in the Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a case of terrorism under the ).
Special Sessions Judge Chakor S Baviskar observed there was “absolutely nothing on record” to infer that industrialist Mukesh Ambani or any member of his family had been “terrorised” by the parking of an explosives-laden SUV near his residence. The NIA immediately moved the challenging the order, with the appeal set to be heard on Wednesday.
The Genesis of the Case
The case stems from a bizarre chain of events in early . On , a Mahindra Scorpio containing 20 gelatin sticks and a threatening note was found parked near Antilia, Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey residence in south Mumbai. The SUV belonged to Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who had earlier lodged a theft complaint on . Just over a week later, on , Hiran’s body was found in a creek in neighbouring Thane, and the NIA took over the investigation, alleging a criminal conspiracy involving Waze and nine others.
Waze, then an assistant police inspector with the , was arrested on . His earlier pleas were rejected, with the trial court in holding that a case existed. However, after charges were framed on , the in an order dated granted Waze liberty to file a fresh application, which the trial court was directed to decide .
Waze’s Plea: Delay, , and a Flawed Terror Case
Through advocates and , Waze pressed three main grounds. First, he had been in custody for over five years, and with a running over 14,000 pages and 320 witnesses, the trial was unlikely to conclude soon, making his continued a violation of . Second, he sought with co-accused Pradeep Sharma (A-10) and Sunil Mane (A-5), who had been granted by the . Third, he argued that the was not attracted at all—the gelatin sticks lacked detonators, no demand for money was ever made to the Ambanis, and no witness from the family had come forward to say they were terrorised.
NIA’s Opposition: A Case and Risk of Tampering
Special Public Prosecutor opposed the application with characteristic vigour. He pointed to the earlier 2023 rejection order, which had found a case, and argued that the delay in trial was attributable to Waze himself, who had filed multiple frivolous applications. He also contended that the facts of Waze’s case were distinct from those of the bailed co-accused, and that releasing him would risk and hamper .
The Court’s Razor-Sharp Analysis
Judge Baviskar began by noting that he had to decide the application “ ” of the High Court’s order, which required a fresh, merit-based assessment without being influenced by the earlier rejection. He then proceeded to dismantle the prosecution’s case piece by piece.
No Evidence of Terror
The court zeroed in on the most glaring omission: the NIA had not recorded the statement of a single member of the Ambani family under . “Till this moment, there is no statement recorded … of any of the family members of the Ambanis, nor of their near and dear relatives,” the judge observed. He sarcastically asked what “Muhurat” the agency was waiting for, given that five to six years had already passed. “The office of the NIA and Antilia are literally just wall to wall adjacent!” he added, calling the lapse a matter of “great pity and compassion.”
Gelatin Sticks Without Detonators Do Not a Make
Even the means employed fell short of the . The court noted that the gelatin sticks lacked detonators and were incapable of exploding. Referring to , which lists “bombs, dynamite or other explosive substances” as potential means, the judge held that useless gelatin sticks without a triggering mechanism did not qualify. Moreover, the court emphasised that the phrase “people or any section of the people” in Section 15 connotes a large group based on sect, religion, or ideology, and cannot be stretched to include a single family.
Murder of Mansukh Hiran: A Separate Offence
While acknowledging that Hiran’s death was , the court held it was not the “ ” of a . Since the alleged murder was an independent offence under , the stringent restrictions under did not apply. The judge also noted that the case against Waze for murder was entirely , and that co-accused Pradeep Sharma and Sunil Mane—who were allegedly more directly involved in the actual killing—had already been granted .
Distinguishing Between Charge and
In a crucial legal clarification, the court distinguished the standard for framing charges from that for rejecting . While charges had been framed on the basis of the prosecution material taken at face value, the same material, when scrutinised for , failed to meet the higher threshold. “The criteria for and for … are not exactly the same,” the judge wrote.
Key Observations from the Judgment
- “There is absolutely nothing on record even to infer by any stretch of imagination that the Ambanis or anyone of them is/was, are/were ever terrorised in any manner.”
- “Even if we suppose on ourselves that he wanted to create terror in the minds of Ambanis, it is impossible to accept that any such terror was in fact ever created in the mind of anyone, least in the minds of Ambanis.”
- “No one knows which ‘Muhurat’ the Investigating Agency is waiting for to record a statement of any of the targets of the alleged terror, after such a long gap of 5-6 years.”
- “The office of the NIA and Antilia are literally just wall to wall adjacent!”
- “At the stage of , credibility, veracity, probative value of the prosecution material cannot at all be gone into … However, the criteria of case against the accused to reject his application is on somewhat .”
The Final Order: with Strict Conditions
The court allowed the application and ordered Waze’s release on a of ₹1 lakh with one local . However, it imposed to address the NIA’s concerns:
- Waze must surrender his passport (or file an affidavit if he does not possess one).
- Until the evidence of material witnesses is recorded, he is barred from entering the districts of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad. He must reside beyond these districts and report to the local police station after each court date.
- He must provide a live mobile phone number and attend the jurisdictional police station every Sunday between 12 pm and 3 pm.
- He is prohibited from contacting any witnesses or tampering with evidence.
Waze, who has been in custody since March , is expected to walk out of prison on Wednesday. His lawyer confirmed that he has provided Pune as his residential address. The NIA has already moved the , which will hear the challenge on Wednesday. The wider trial in the Antilia and Hiran cases continues.
