Crime branch seeks Sachin Vaze’s custody in Goregaon extortion case

The crime branch wants to question Sachin Vaze in an extortion case registered with the Goregaon police station, in which former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh has been also named as an accused

The Mumbai crime branch on Wednesday approached the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court for the custody of dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, arrested in the Antilia explosive scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case. The crime branch wants to question Vaze in an extortion case registered with the Goregaon police station, in which former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh has been also named as an accused.

According to crime branch officials, Sachin Vaze is the main accused in the extortion case.

In August, the Goregaon police had registered a case against Singh, Vaze and civilians — Sumeet Singh, Alpesh Patel, Vijay Singh and Riyaz Bhati for extortion. The complainant hotelier Bimal Agarwal has alleged that the accused extorted ₹11.92 lakhs from him and had threatened of registering cases against Boho Restaurant and BCB Bar, owned by him.

The special NIA court judge AT Wankhede allowed the crime branch to question another former police officer Sunil Mane who is lodged in jail, also arrested in the twin cases.

The court has posted the agency’s plea for Vaze’s custody for hearing on October 22, after calling for a reply from the prison’s department on his health condition.

When Vaze’s counsel Raunak Naik tried to oppose the plea, the court told him that a metropolitan magistrate had already issued a warrant for his production and that he should have objected before the magistrate court.

According to crime branch officials, Vaze is the main accused in the case. The police have already arrested Sumeet Singh, who had allegedly collected extortion money for Vaze.

Meanwhile, former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma has filed a default bail application, which is also posted for hearing on October 22.