Antilia bomb scare case: Court rejects discharge application of accused cricket bookie

Judge A M Patil of the special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases dismissed the plea though the detailed order was not available yet

Mumbai: A court here on Tuesday rejected an application filed by Naresh Gaur, an alleged cricket bookie, seeking discharge from the Antilia bomb scare and businessman Mansukh Hiran murder case.

Judge A M Patil of the special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases dismissed the plea though the detailed order was not available yet.

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The plea, filed through advocate Aniket Nikam, claimed that the prosecution did not attribute any motive to Gaur though he was arrested in the case.

The only alleged role attributed to him was that he obtained and activated SIM cards at the behest of prime accused Sachin Waze who was then serving with the Mumbai police, it said.

It was not sufficient to implicate the applicant as the possibility of him being influenced or coerced by a serving police officer to meet his demands cannot be ruled out, the application said.

Notably, the court had granted bail to Gaur in November 2021 observing that prima facie he did not seem to be aware of the conspiracy.

An SUV with explosives inside was found near ‘Antilia’, the south Mumbai residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, on February 25, 2021. Later, Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who had claimed that he was in the possession of the vehicle before it was stolen, was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5.

Besides Waze and Gaur, other accused in the case include former policemen Pradip Sharma, Vinayak Shinde, Riyazuddin Kazi and Sunil Mane.