Antilia case: Bombay High Court cancels Sachin Waze’s bail, citing terror threat

The Bombay High Court has cancelled the bail granted to Sachin Waze, the dismissed Mumbai police officer accused in the 2021 Antilia explosives scare and the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran. Mr. Waze will remain in judicial custody.

A Division Bench of Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale on Thursday, 5 November, allowed the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) appeal against a special NIA court’s order of 29 September granting him bail. The NIA had obtained an urgent stay soon after that order, so Mr. Waze was never released.

The Bench held that no citizen, industrialist or otherwise, should face “even a remote threat of terror”, and that releasing Mr. Waze would go against the public interest. The special court had questioned whether the anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, applied to the case, and noted that statements had not been recorded from the Ambani family. Arguing for the NIA, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh said the special judge had ignored key statements from security staff at Antilia, and that Hiran was killed as a “weak link” after he refused to take the blame. The detailed judgment is yet to be released.

The background

On 25 February 2021, an SUV carrying gelatin sticks and a threatening note was found near Antilia, industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s home in south Mumbai. Hiran, who had been using the vehicle, was found dead in a creek near Mumbra on 5 March. Mr. Waze, then an assistant police inspector in the city’s Crime Intelligence Unit, was arrested by the NIA that month and later dismissed from service.

The case shook Maharashtra’s politics. Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh was moved out, and he then accused Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of asking Mr. Waze to collect ₹100 crore a month from bars and restaurants, allegations that led to Mr. Deshmukh’s resignation and arrest. Mr. Deshmukh denied them.

What’s next

Mr. Waze can challenge the order in the Supreme Court. The trial in the special NIA court continues.