Saw Mansukh Hiren meet Sachin Vaze two days before his death: Hotelier forced to give 'hafta' reveals to NIA

The NIA has recorded the statement of a hotelier, who told the probe agency that he saw Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren on March 3 when he went to handover the 'hafta' (weekly) collection to Mumbai Police cop Sachin Vaze at his CIU office. On March 5, Mansukh Hiren's body was fished out of Mumbra creek in Thane.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recorded the statement of a hotelier, who told the probe agency that he saw Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren on March 3 when he went to handover the 'hafta' (weekly) collection to Mumbai Police cop Sachin Vaze at his CIU office. In his statement to NIA, the hotelier said he had seen Mansukh Hiren, arrested constable Vinayak Shinde and some policemen in a meeting. The NIA is likely to question the policemen as to what they were doing in the CIU office as they are attached to another unit. Maharashtra ATS believes that the plan to kill Mansukh Hiren was hatched between March 2-3 at the CIU office situated at the Mumbai Police headquarters. The hotelier, in his statement, said that the meeting happened behind closed doors between 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm on March 3. Mansukh Hiren was looking disturbed and was murmuring to himself about an "unreasonable demand" when he had done nothing wrong, the hotelier said.