Inspector Daya Nayak, 7 Others Transferred To Mumbai Police From Maharashtra ATS

In addition to Nayak, Inspectors Dnyaneshwar Wagh and Daulat Salve were also transferred from the ATS to the Mumbai Police.

File photo of Daya Nayak.

Source : Getty

Mumbai: Inspector Daya Nayak, famous as an "encounter specialist", has been transferred from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to the Mumbai Police. The order to transfer Nayak and seven other inspectors was issued by the Additional Director General (Establishment) of the Maharashtra Police, news agency Press Trust of India reported Monday, quoting an official.

In addition to Nayak, Inspectors Dnyaneshwar Wagh and Daulat Salve were also transferred from the ATS to the Mumbai Police, according to the official, the PTI report said.

Nayak was involved in the investigation into Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran's murder in 2021 during his time at the ATS. Hiran's killing was linked to the recovery of an explosives-laden car near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai house Antilia.

Although the inquiry into the Antilia bomb scare and Hiran murder episode was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the ATS had collected evidence against policemen who had been named as accused in the high-profile case.

A 1995-batch police inspector, Nayak gained notoriety as an "encounter specialist" in the 1990s during the peak of underworld activities in Mumbai. He is claimed to have gunned down more than 80 gangsters during his career.

Meanwhie, the NIA is reported to have refused to support the plea of dismissed police inspector Sunil Mane who had sought to become an approver in the Antilia and Mansukh Hiran cases, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

The NIA arrested Mane on April 23, 2021, for his alleged role in the Thane businessman's murder.

On February 2, Mane had written to the special NIA court, placing a request to allow him to become an approver. “After deeply thinking during my incarceration, I have realised my mistakes. Being a police officer, it was my duty to protect the life of citizens. But unfortunately, and unknowingly, I have committed some mistakes,” the HT report said, quoting the letter.

During the hearing, the NIA told the court that Mane was directly involved in the offences, and that the prosecution could not support his application
“after examination of the relevant material", according to the report.