The Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed the bail granted to former Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze in the 2021 Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case. .This was after the National Investigation Authority (NIA), the investigating authority in the present case, approached the High Court challenging the bail granted to Waze by a special court on September 29. Special judge Chakor S Baviskar had questioned the applicability of terrorism charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).It had found a significant flaw in the prosecution's case regarding the explosives-laden SUV parked near Mukesh Ambani's residence. It noted a complete absence of witness statements from the Ambani family. NIA approached the High Court against the same..Additional solicitor general Anil Singh argued that the special judge passed an erroneous order without going into the detailed facts of the case. He said that the judge incorrectly recorded that no statements from the Ambani family were recorded. In fact, three statements of the security personnel stationed at Antilia had already been recorded, it was pointed out..A division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale heard the appeal and noted that Waze was not represented. The bench issued notice to Waze and posted the matter for further hearing on October 7..In the meantime, Singh requested for a stay on the ground that Waze will be released from Thane central prison. Accordingly, the bench stayed the order and directed the State to inform the jail authorities that Waze not be released from prison. .The prosecution alleged that Waze parked an explosive-laden SUV near Mukesh Ambani's residence to extort money and restore his reputation. Subsequent events led to the murder of Mansukh Hiran because he refused to take the blame..NIA's appeal travelled across several judges before being heard by Justice Kulkarni-led bench..The agency first moved before Justice SV Kotwal's bench who recused from hearing the matter. NIA then moved the alternate bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Ashish Chavan. Both recused from hearing the matter. .The ASG then mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi for assigning the matter to a bench.He pointed out that the amongst the division benches, three other benches would not be able to hear the matter because the puisine judges on those benches were lawyers from the Union panel who had been involved in the Antilia case. .Accordingly, the CJ assigned the matter to Justice Kulkarni's bench during mentioning. The ASG mentioned the matter before Justice Kulkarni's bench immediately who agreed to take up the matter today itself. .The ASG was briefed by advocates Chintan Shah and Sunil Gonsalves.
