Hiren Mansukh, 45, was found near a creek near Mumbai. According to his family, he had been missing since last night.
In a major twist, the reported owner of Scorpio SUV filled with explosives found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai home was found dead on Friday.
According to a Thane police officer quoted by news agency ANI, Hiren Mansukh, 45, was found near a creek near Mumbai. According to his family, he had been missing since last night.
The opposition BJP in the Maharashtra assembly, after this sensational development, demanded that the case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Significantly, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said even Mansukh was not the owner of the car and that he had been commissioned to work on it.
Aditya Thackeray, the Shiv Sena leader and minister in the MVA government, said: “We just learned about this. It is a very big incident and the police are investigating.” When asked if the Maharashtra government would hand over the investigation of the case to NIA, Mr Thackeray said: “We can, according to the rules. It will be more appropriate for the state home minister to speak on this.”
After midnight last Wednesday, the SUV was found abandoned around 1.4 km from Antilia, Mukesh Ambani’s 27-storey home in south Mumbai. 20 gelatin sticks – material used in explosives – besides a handwritten letter addressed to the Reliance chairman and Nita Ambani was found by the bomb disposal squad.
A day after the car was found, the police learned that the SUV was stolen and said its owner lived in Vikhroli, another part of the city.
The police had recorded the statement of Mansukh, a spare car parts businessman who reported the car stolen.
A man in a mask and a hoodie was seen in security footage parking the car, but he was not identified. The police also saw CCTV footage of the car moving through the city, followed by an Innova car that is also being investigated.
Police sources had said that the gelatin was not military grade but of the commercial kind that is usually used in construction, digging or mining.
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