One of the vehicles, a Prado, is registered in the name of Vijaykumar Ganpat Bhosle, a Shiv Sena official from Ratnagiri, officials said. The other vehicle is a Mercedes Benz.
Police seized a Mercedes used by Waze three days ago. State Counter-Terrorism Squad, which is investigating the murder of businessman Thane Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the Scorpion, will seek custody of Waze during his bail hearing. in Thane courtroom on Friday.
Meanwhile, the NIA and an ATS probe based on CCTV footage revealed that on February 17, Hiran and Waze had a 10-minute conversation in the Mercedes near GPO in Fort. Hiran had traveled south of Mumbai in an Ola taxi, claiming his Scorpion had developed a snag on Mulund-Airoli Road.
CCTV footage showed Waze leaving the Mumbai Police head office, where his office was, in his Mercedes. His vehicle was again spotted outside the CSMT at the main traffic light. The signal was green, but the Mercedes didn’t move any further and Waze had turned on the vehicle’s parking light.
NIA recorded statements from former Waze SDI colleagues
The two cars seized by NIA on Thursday were used by Waze
After a few seconds, the camera showed Hiran crossing the road and getting into the Mercedes. Cameras spotted the Mercedes in front of GPO, parked by the side of the road. It was parked there for over 10 minutes, after which Hiran got off. The Mercedes was then seen entering the police headquarters.
The driver of the Ola taxi that Hiran used to get to the CSMT told ATS officials that Hiran received five calls during the trip. Waze, who allegedly made the calls, had asked Hiran to meet him outside the Roopam showroom opposite the police headquarters, but on the last call he changed the location to CSMT, sources said. Polling agencies contacted L&T for maintenance and preservation of these images.
The owner of the Mercedes seized on March 16, Suresh Bhavsar, said he sold the vehicle in February to an auto trade site and had no connection with Waze.
The NIA also recorded on Thursday the statements of two personnel from the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) where Waze worked. So far, the NIA has recorded the statements of nine personnel in the criminal branch.
On Thursday, a team of forensic experts visited the NIA office in South Mumbai. We learn that Waze’s Mercedes, seized on March 16 in a BMC parking lot near the JJ School of Arts near Crawford Market, was parked on March 13 or 14 by Waze’s driver. The NIA, after seizing the car, alerted the contractor to the parking lot, asking him to make his statement. The Mercedes, sources said, had been parked on this lot several times. It was the driver who parked the car.
There were reports that NIA obtained the key to the Scorpio which was parked outside the Ambani residence.