Sachin Vaze sent to Mumbai Police custody in extortion case

The crime branch had approached a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, and on October 29, the latter had permitted the crime branch to take Vaze into custody for interrogation in the extortion case

Mumbai’s crime branch on Monday took dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze into custody from Taloja jail in connection with an extortion case registered at Goregaon police station against him, former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and a few some others.

Sachin Vaze was sent to Mumbai Police custody in an extortion case. (PTI/File)

A senior police officer said a team from the crime branch visited Taloja jail at around 10am on Monday and took Vaze into custody. After a medical check-up, he will be produced before a police court, the officer said.

The crime branch had approached a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, and on October 29, the latter had permitted the crime branch to take Vaze into custody for interrogation in the extortion case.

Vaze, arrested by the NIA in the Antilia bomb scare case and the subsequent Mansukh Hiran murder case, had been lodged in Taloja jail.

In August, the Goregaon police station had registered a case against Singh, Vaze and a few other individuals - Sumeet Singh, Alpesh Patel, Vijay Singh and Riyaz Bhati – over the extortion case.

The complainant, hotelier Bimal Agarwal, alleged that the accused extorted ₹11.92 lakh from him and had threatened to register cases against Boho Restaurant and BCB Bar, both of which he owns.

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.