Corruption case: Deshmukh’s bail plea questions credentials of Param Bir Singh, Sachin Waze

Former home minister Anil Deshmukh has questioned the credentials of former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and dismissed police officer Sachin Waze while seeking bail in a case of corruption registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

Former home minister Anil Deshmukh has questioned the credentials of former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and dismissed police officer Sachin Waze while seeking bail in a case of corruption registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The special court has asked the central agency to file its reply to the plea by October 14.

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On Tuesday, the Bombay high court granted him bail in the money-laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). A few hours later, Deshmukh filed a bail application in the special CBI court, which was accepted on Thursday.

In the plea, filed through advocates Aniket Nikam and Inderpal Singh, Deshmukh said the CBI’s case was based on the preliminary enquiry ordered by the high court but the report had not been shared with him.

“A document circulated in the media and available in public, which was purportedly the preliminary enquiry report, categorically stated that the complainant in the FIR [Shri Gunjiyal, DSP, CBI] had himself concluded that no cognisable offence was made out,” the application said.

Maybe the enquiry carried out by the officer had concluded that no cognisable offence was made out and accordingly, had not been accorded imprimatur by the higher authority, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said. “However, there was absolutely no need for the CBI to withhold such a vital document. Even in the chargesheet, the enquiry report has not been appended.”

Deshmukh has listed the contradictions in the statements given by Singh and Waze to the CBI and the ones recorded before the Justice (retired) KU Chandiwal Commission set up to inquire into the allegations against the former minister.

Referring to Waze’s testimony before the commission, the plea said, “Waze was under pressure when he was in NIA [National Investigation Agency] custody. It was the most traumatic time of his life; he was harassed and humiliated by the agency. He had no evidence to substantiate his allegations against Deshmukh. He was forced to sign documents under duress.”

Deshmukh claimed that the statements of the bar owners to the CBI said it was not the applicant (Desmukh) but the former commissioner of police in whose name the money was being collected (by Waze).

The NCP leader also questioned the CBI’s motive behind allowing Waze to become an approver in the corruption case against him as he was the prime accused and was also involved in other serious cases – Khawaja Yunus’s murder, Antilia explosives scare and connected murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran, and some extortion cases.

A similar plea by Waze to become an approver in the money-laundering case against Deshmukh is pending as the special court has questioned how the main accused can be made an approver. The dismissed police officer is yet to make his submissions.

Deshmukh was first arrested by the ED on November 2, 2021. The CBI took him into custody from Arthur Road jail on April 6 this year, in the corruption case registered by the agency on April 21, 2021. The CBI’s case is based on the corruption allegations levelled by Singh who claimed that the then home minister had used the police machinery to extort money from bar owners in Mumbai. The agency filed a chargesheet on July 12.