Mansukh Hiren death Maha ATS registers murder case against unidentified persons

    Mumbai, Mar 7 (PTI) Two days after the body of Mansukh
Hiren, the purported owner of the car with explosives found
outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence here last
month, was found in a creek, the Maharashtra ATS on Sunday
registered a case of murder against unidentified persons, an
official said.
    The formal orders to hand over the probe into the
death of Hiren (46) to the ATS were issued on Saturday late
night.
    The Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) registered the FIR
against unidentified persons on the order of the state home
department under various sections of the Indian Penal Code
(IPC), including murder, disappearance of evidence, and a
criminal conspiracy, the official said.
    Accordingly, all the documents related to the case
were handed over to the ATS by Mumbra police in Thane
district.
    Earlier, family members of the deceased had demanded
registration of a murder case and refused to take possession
of his body.
    However, they finally agreed to claim the body on
Saturday on the intervention of senior police officers in
Thane.
    Vimla Hiren, wife of the deceased, had filed a
complaint with the police.
    The body of Hiren was fished out from a creek in
neighbouring Thane district on the morning of March 5, hours
after he went "missing".
    Hiren, an automobile accessories dealer from Thane,
had purportedly written a letter on March 2 to Maharashtra
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, state Home Minister Anil
Deshmukh and police commissioners of Thane and Mumbai,
alleging that he was being harassed by the police and media
since the vehicle was found outside Ambani's house.
    He had also claimed that despite being a victim, he
was treated like an accused.
    The car, a Scorpio, with 20 gelatin sticks inside was
found near 'Antilia', the multi-storey residence of Mukesh
Ambani in south Mumbai, on February 25.
    Police had said the vehicle was stolen from Airoli-
Mulund Bridge on February 18.
    The ATS had already taken over the probe into the
security scare outside Ambani's residence.
    In the letter, Hiren claimed that he was being
harassed despite not having any knowledge about the culprits,
who not only "stole his vehicle but also misused it".
    A Thane Police official had said that Hiren had left
his shop around 8.30 pm on March 4 in an autorickshaw and
since then his phone was switched off.
    "His family members had lodged a missing person's
report on Friday morning after he did not return home and a
case was registered at Naupada police station. By that time, a
body was found at Mumbra and it was later confirmed that the
deceased was Mansukh," he had said, adding that Hiren's mobile
phone is yet to be recovered.
    Officials on Saturday said the autopsy report of Hiren
reserved the opinion on the cause of his death and added that
no visible external injuries were found on his body.
    The viscera of Hiren was already sent for forensic
analysis, they said. PTI ZA
NSK NSK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)