Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze meeting: Cops in Vaze’s escort team guilty of negligence

Cops inquiring into the Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze meeting on Monday concluded that the latter’s escort team is guilty of dereliction of duty

A Mumbai police team inquiring into the Param Bir Singh-Sachin Vaze meeting on Monday concluded that the latter’s escort team is guilty of dereliction of duty. On Tuesday, Mumbai police sent a report to their Navi Mumbai counterparts seeking action on the four escort team personnel.

A person aware of the report said four cops were present in the room where Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze privately met and talked for an hour. (HT PHOTO)

A sub-inspector and three police constables of Navi Mumbai police had escorted Sachin Vaze – prime accused in Thane trader Mansukh Hiran’s murder case and industrialist Mukesh Ambani security scare case – to the Justice KU Chandiwal commission’s courtroom in Fort, south Mumbai. Vaze is currently lodged at Taloja jail, Navi Mumbai.

A person aware of the report said the four police personnel were present in the room where Singh and Vaze privately met and talked for an hour. “The policemen knew Vaze faces serious charges,” the source said. “They should not have allowed anyone to speak to him without the permission of NIA court. This is serious dereliction of duty.”

On Monday, Mumbai police had appointed Pandurang Shinde, assistant commissioner of police, Colaba division, to begin an inquiry soon after it came to light that Singh and Vaze had met each other for an hour in the Old Secretariat Building where the Chandiwal Commission sits. Shinde recorded statements of the escort team and other witnesses, and submitted a report to deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Dr Hari Balaji N, who sent it to Navi Mumbai Police commissionerate for action. Sources said the DCP’s report suggested that disciplinary action be taken against the guilty cops. Both Dr Hari and ACP Shinde did not respond to phone calls.

Navi Mumbai police commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said, “We have received a report from Mumbai police. I have ordered the DCP (headquarters) to inquire further. Based on the findings, we will take appropriate action.”

The Chandiwal commission was constituted in March 2021 to look into the allegations of corruption levelled by Singh against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh. Both Vaze and Singh are witnesses in the commission’s inquiry.

The meeting between Singh and Vaze reportedly lasted for an hour, people present in the building said. Deshmukh’s lawyers opposed it and raised the issue before the commission. The judge asked Vaze to stay in the room where commission’s proceedings are going on and to not speak to anyone else.

Leading criminal lawyer Majeed Memon said, “It’s absolutely illegal. No one can meet an accused who is in judicial custody without the permission of the concerned court. Moreover, in this case, the person (Singh) who met the accused is himself an accused in several cases.”