NCP's Nawab Malik makes BIG claim - Param Bir Singh, Sachin Waze planned Antilia bomb scare

Nawab Malik on Tuesday claimed that the duo had also planned the "fake" encounter of a goon by showing him as a Pakistani national with the help of a bogus passport (after the bomb scare incident).

Pune: NCP leader and Maharashtra government Minister Nawab Malik has alleged that former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and dismissed cop Sachin Waze had planned the bomb threat near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence 'Antilia' in the state capital.

Malik on Tuesday claimed that the duo had also planned the "fake" encounter of a goon by showing him as a Pakistani national with the help of a bogus passport (after the bomb scare incident).

The NCP leader also claimed that Singh and Waze had "misled" the state home ministry in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case. Asked about NCP leader Anil Deshmukh's resignation as the state home minister earlier this year, Malik termed it as "politically motivated".

An explosives-laden SUV was found near Ambani's residence in south Mumbai in February this year. A few days later, businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV, was found dead in a creek at Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting a probe into the Antilia bomb scare case. The central agency had in March arrested Waze for his alleged role in the case. Waze, who was then serving as an assistant police inspector, was later dismissed from service.

Malik claimed that Singh and Waze had given wrong briefings to the state home ministry to "mislead" it in the (Antilia bomb scare) case.

"Param Bir Singh and Sachin Waze had planned the Antilia bomb threat. They had even made a fake passport with the entry and exit stamps of Pakistan for a goon. If Mansukh Hiran wasn't killed or had he surrendered, then both had planned the fake encounter of the goon, showing him as a terrorist," Malik claimed.

The NIA had found a fake passport at Waze's home, even the 'panchnama' mentioned the passport. The NIA should put it forth before the public, the minister said.

To a query that Deshmukh and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had backed Waze after the Antilia bomb scare, Malik said a minister or a CM speak on the basis of briefings from officials.

"Singh and Waze, considering their planning in the case, were briefing the home minister and the CM and based on it the latter were speaking in the legislature. Both the officers were misleading the minister," he claimed.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered a probe into a meeting between dismissed police officer Sachin Waze and IPS officer Param Bir Singh which has caused a flutter as Waze is in judicial custody and both are accused in an extortion case. 

“Waze is in judicial custody and as per the rules he is not supposed to meet anyone. I have instructed Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale to probe the matter,” state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil told reporters here. 

He also objected to Singh - now Director-General of Home Guards who remained absent from duty for over six months before surfacing last week to face probe in multiple cases of extortion - using a government vehicle for moving around. 

Singh has not been reporting to work for long and is not supposed to use a government vehicle, Walse-Patil said. The alleged meeting took place on Monday in an adjoining room on the second floor of a building housing Singh's office in south Mumbai when he appeared before Justice Chandiwal (retired) Commission, which is operating from the same premises. 

The commission is probing allegations of corruption levelled by Singh against the NCP leader and then home minister Anil Deshmukh after the IPS officer was shunted out from the post of Mumbai police commissioner.