CBI arrests Sachin Vaze, Anil Deshmukh’s PA, PS

With regards to the NCP leader’s admission to the JJ Hospital, the CBI has said that it is a deliberate attempt to avoid the agency

Mumbai: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Monday remanded dismissed policeman Sachin Vaze and two ex-aides of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in CBI custody till April 11 in a corruption case registered against the 72-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader. CBI officials took Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde in custody from Arthur Road jail, where they were lodged. Vaze was taken into custody from Taloja jail. Deshmukh however, was not arrested, as he was admitted to the JJ Hospital on Saturday.

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh being taken to a hospital for his medical check-up, after his arrest in a money laundering case. (PTI)

With regards to the NCP leader’s admission to the JJ Hospital, the CBI has said that it is a deliberate attempt to avoid the agency. “The accused Anil Deshmukh intentionally and deliberately got himself admitted to the JJ Hospital on April 2 with the sole purpose to avoid police custody and delay the investigation,” the agency said in its application seeking remand of the other three arrested in the case on Monday.

After a medical check-up, Vaze, Palande, and Shinde were produced before a special CBI court. Raj Mohan Chand, CBI counsel sought the custody remand of the three claiming that though explanations were obtained from them on various points, there were several discrepancies that required to be cleared. “We have also recorded the confessional statements of Sachin Vaze which corroborates with the statements of other witnesses in the case,” he said.

He said the custody remand of the accused was essential to unearth the deep-rooted conspiracy and added that the arrested accused may also be required to be subjected to scientific interrogation techniques during their confrontation for which they may be required to be taken over to CBI headquarters in New Delhi.

Advocate Sairuchita Choudhary, who represented Palande, opposed the plea saying that the FIR was registered a year ago and now they have arrested the accused. She pointed out that several raids were carried out at Palande’s house, but they did not find anything. She added that there were no extraordinary grounds mentioned in the remand to grant custody.

Vaze, was arrested by NIA on March 13, 2021, in connection with the Antilia explosives scare and connected murder of Thane-based car accessories shop owner Mansukh Hiran, while Deshmukh, 72, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 2, 2021 in a money laundering case against him, his son Hrishikesh and others.

CBI had on Thursday secured a production warrant to arrest the four. Based on the warrant, the agency on Friday moved the special PMLA court and special NIA court, seeking permission to arrest them in connection with the corruption case registered against Anil Deshmukh on April 21, 2021.

The CBI case is based on the allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. In a letter written to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, 2021, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had instructed certain Mumbai police officers, including assistant inspector Sachin Vaze, to collect an amount of ₹100 crore every month from Mumbai’s restaurants and bars.

ED has registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh, his son Hrishikesh and others. On Deshmukh’s instructions, Vaze had allegedly called a meeting of bar owners, and between December 2020 and February 2021, collected ₹4.7 crore from the owners of orchestra bars in Mumbai to avoid police interference.

In his statement to the ED, Vaze had revealed that he had handed over the “extorted money” in two instalments to Kundan Shinde.

On June 26, ED had arrested Shinde and Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande in the money laundering case, and on August 23, filed a charge sheet against them. Vaze is also an accused in the charge sheet.