He took a rickshaw. By 11 p.m., he had not returned.
In the shadow of one of India's most powerful addresses, a chain of borrowed trust and alleged betrayal has surfaced from a creek in Mumbai's outskirts. A police officer assigned to investigate an explosives threat against industrialist Mukesh Ambani now stands accused, by the widow of the car's owner, of having possessed the vehicle for months before the incident — and of silencing the one man who could place it in his hands. The death of Mansukh Hiren, an auto parts dealer found asphyxiated in Mumbra creek, raises the oldest and most unsettling question a society can ask: who watches the watchmen?
- A gelatin-packed Scorpio abandoned outside Ambani's home was traced back not to a terrorist cell, but to a police officer who had borrowed it months earlier.
- The car's registered owner, Mansukh Hiren, was found dead in a creek with handkerchiefs forced into his mouth — days after allegedly being coached by that same officer on how to navigate the investigation.
- His widow's testimony to the Mumbai ATS directly names Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze as the man who possessed the car, guided her husband into the case machinery, and allegedly urged him to get himself arrested.
- Vaze was quietly removed as investigating officer without explanation, yet remained at his post even as federal and state agencies opened parallel inquiries into the bomb threat and the murder.
- Opposition leaders are demanding Vaze's immediate arrest, alleging political protection is shielding him — while the NIA and ATS race to untangle whether one officer engineered both the threat and the silence that followed.
On March 5th, a body was pulled from Mumbra creek with handkerchiefs forced deep into its mouth. It was Mansukh Hiren, a 54-year-old auto parts dealer from Thane. Three days earlier, a Scorpio registered in his name had been found outside Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai residence, loaded with twenty gelatin sticks and a handwritten threat. Now his widow, Vimala, was telling the Mumbai ATS something that would reframe everything: the car had been in the possession of a Mumbai Police officer, Sachin Vaze, for the three months prior.
Vimala described Vaze as a regular presence in her husband's life — a client and a friend. He had borrowed the Scorpio in November for personal use, returning it in early February with a complaint about the steering. Twenty days later, the same vehicle appeared at Ambani's gates, packed with explosives. When the case was assigned to the Crime Branch, Vaze emerged again — this time as the investigating officer, accompanying Hiren to interviews and positioning himself as his guide through the process.
The pressure on Hiren grew. Vaze allegedly instructed him to file complaints to senior officials claiming police harassment, and even suggested Hiren allow himself to be arrested, promising bail within days. Vimala urged her husband to seek other counsel. She was afraid.
On the evening of March 4th, Hiren told his wife he had received a call from a policeman in Kandivali and was heading out to seek advice from a contact on Ghodbunder Road. He took a rickshaw and never came home. His phone went dark. When his son tried calling Sachin Vaze, no one answered. By morning, Hiren's body had surfaced in the creek.
Vaze was quietly removed from the explosives case without explanation. The NIA took over the bomb threat investigation on March 8th, while the ATS opened a separate murder inquiry. In the state assembly, former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanded Vaze's immediate arrest and suspension, alleging political protection. Vaze did not respond to requests for comment. He remained at his post as two investigations — one federal, one local — moved toward answers the city was waiting to hear.
On the morning of March 5th, a body surfaced in Mumbra creek with five or six handkerchiefs forced deep into its mouth. It belonged to Mansukh Hiren, a 54-year-old auto parts dealer from Thane. Three days earlier, a Mahindra Scorpio bearing his registration had been discovered abandoned outside Mukesh Ambani's residence in south Mumbai, loaded with twenty gelatin sticks and a handwritten threat. Now Hiren was dead, and his widow was telling police something that would reshape the entire investigation: the car had been in the hands of a Mumbai Police officer named Sachin Vaze for the previous three months.
Vimala Hiren's statement to the Mumbai ATS painted a portrait of entanglement and coercion. Vaze, an Assistant Police Inspector assigned to the Crime Intelligence Unit, had been a regular presence in her husband's life—a client, she said, and a friend. In November, he had borrowed the Scorpio for what he called personal use. On February 5th, he returned it to their shop in Thane with a complaint about stiff steering. The timing mattered. Just twenty days later, the same vehicle would be found outside one of India's most prominent industrialists' home, packed with explosives.
The sequence of events that followed suggested a man being systematically drawn deeper into a trap. On February 17th, Hiren drove the Scorpio from Thane toward Mumbai. After passing the Mulund toll plaza, the car broke down. He abandoned it and caught a ride into the city. When he returned the next day to retrieve it, the vehicle was gone. He filed a theft report at Vikhroli police station. Then, on February 25th, when the explosives-laden Scorpio turned up at Ambani's gates, Vaze appeared in Hiren's life again—this time as the investigating officer assigned to the case. According to Vimala's account, Vaze accompanied her husband to the Crime Branch multiple times, positioning himself as an adviser, guiding him through the machinery of police procedure.
But the pressure intensified. On March 2nd, Vaze allegedly instructed Hiren to file a formal complaint to the chief minister, home minister, and police commissioners claiming harassment by law enforcement and the media. More troubling still, Vaze reportedly told Hiren to get himself arrested in connection with the explosives case, assuring him that bail would follow within two or three days. When Vimala learned of this proposal, she urged her husband to seek a second opinion. She was frightened. She had a strong suspicion, she would later tell police, that Vaze had killed her husband.
On the evening of March 4th, Hiren told his wife he had received a call from a policeman named Tawde from Kandivali. He said he was going to Ghodbunder Road to seek advice from an officer he knew. He took a rickshaw. By 11 p.m., he had not returned. His phone was switched off. Vimala called repeatedly. Her son, following his father's instructions, tried dialing Sachin Vaze's number. No one answered. The next morning, Hiren's body was pulled from the creek.
Vaze, who had been the investigating officer in the Ambani explosives case, was quietly replaced by another officer without formal explanation. The case itself was transferred to the National Investigation Agency on March 8th, while the Mumbai ATS opened a separate murder inquiry. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, speaking in the state assembly, demanded Vaze's immediate arrest under charges of evidence destruction and called for his suspension, alleging that political protection was shielding him from accountability. When ThePrint attempted to reach Vaze for comment, there was no response. The officer remained at his post, and the investigation into whether he had orchestrated the death of the man whose car he had borrowed continued in parallel tracks—one federal, one local, both moving toward answers that the city was waiting to hear.
Notable Quotes
Sachin Vaze should be punished. You are giving him the chance to destroy evidence. And just because he entered a certain political party, he is being saved.— Devendra Fadnavis, former Maharashtra Chief Minister, speaking in the state assembly
The day my husband told me that Vaze had told him to get himself arrested in the case and that he would bail him out in 2-3 days, I told him not to get arrested and take advice from someone else.— Vimala Hiren, in her statement to police
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would a police officer involved in investigating a case also be the one pressuring the car's owner to get arrested?
Because if Hiren was arrested, he'd be in custody, controllable, his narrative fixed. Once he was released on bail, Vaze would have had time to manage what he said, what he knew, what he might tell others.
But Hiren refused. He didn't get arrested.
Right. He consulted his wife instead. That was the moment he became a liability rather than a tool.
So the timeline—Vaze had the car for months, then it shows up at Ambani's house with explosives. How does that even happen?
That's the question no one can answer yet. Either Vaze planted it himself, or someone else had access to it while he held it. Either way, he was in a position to know exactly what was in that vehicle and where it came from.
And then he becomes the investigator looking into his own involvement?
For a few days, yes. Until someone noticed the conflict and replaced him. But by then he'd already been advising Hiren, shaping his statements, controlling the narrative.
What does it mean that Hiren's last call was supposedly from another officer, not Vaze?
It means there may have been coordination. Or it means someone else was involved. Or it means Vaze was careful enough to use an intermediary. We don't know yet. That's what the investigation has to determine.