Mumbai, Mar 23 (IANS): Two days after announcing it had cracked the death case of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday said that the accused had destroyed certain key evidence in the matter to cover their tracks.

These include destroying or disposing off mobile phones, SIM cards and CCTV footage, ATS Additional Director-General of Police Jai Jeet Singh told media persons as the ATS prepares to wind-up the two-week long investigations.

The key arrests in the case effected on Sunday include dismissed and jailed police official Vinayak Shinde, undergoing a life term but out on parole since May 2020, and cricket bookie Naresh Gor - who were taken to the wetlands in Thane Creek near Mumbra where Hiran's body was found on March 5.

Besides, there is the prime accused arrested-suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze now in custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the February 25 SUV planting case near Antilia, the home of industrialist Mukesh Ambani.

Singh added that when Vaze's NIA custody gets over on March 25, the ATS would seek his custody for further investigations. The ATS has already raided the API's home and some warehouses in Bhiwandi to collect more evidence.

In the ongoing fast-paced probe, ATS teams fanned out to Gujarat and Union Territory of Daman & Diu from where one person who supplied SIM cards for the operation to Vaze and others has been detained, while a SUV was seized from Daman.

The SUV is currently undergoing a thorough check by a forensic team which recovered some clothes packed in a bag and other things from the vehicle.

Singh said that the ATS has recorded the statements of several witnesses, including some under the Criminal Procedure Code's Section 164 before a Magistrate.