Sachin Vaze probe: NIA raids Mumbai eatery

The action, led by a NIA Superintendent of Police-level officer, came following a specific tip-off pertaining to certain meetings held at the restaurant located in the Girgaum area.

Mumbai:Carrying forward its ongoing probe into the SUV planting and a Thane businessman's death cases, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday raided a prominent eatery in south Mumbai, official sources said here.

The action, led by a NIA Superintendent of Police-level officer, came following a specific tip-off pertaining to certain meetings held at the restaurant located in the Girgaum area.

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The NIA questioned the restaurant staff and owners on whether the prime accused -- arrested-suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze -- frequented the place, whether he used to be alone or accompanied by anyone else, and other details as it tried to crack the twin cases.

After seizing 7 vehicles till date, including the SUV Scorpio with 20 gelatin sticks and a threat note, which was abandoned near Antilia, the home of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, the NIA is now on the trail of yet another luxury vehicle that was reportedly used/driven by Vaze.

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The Scorpio found near Antilia on February 25 was owned by a Thane businessman, Mansukh Hiran, who was later found dead in the Thane Creek marshes on March 5.

The other six vehicles seized by NIA include an Innova, two black Mercedes Benz, a LandCruiser Prado, a Volvo bearing a Maharashtra registration but found in the Union Territory of Daman & Diu and on March 30, a Mitsubishi Outlander owned by Vaze.

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"We are doing whatever is required for the probe to get at the bottom of the truth," an NIA official linked with the probe told IANS, preferring anonymity.

IANS