Suspended cop Sachin Vaze gets bail in money laundering case

Vaze had moved bail plea through his lawyers Sajal Yadav and Aarti Kalekar on the ground that he was never arrested by the ED during the investigation and therefore, he should be granted bail in the money laundering case

Mumbai: A special PMLA court in the city granted bail to dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Vaze on Friday in the money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against former home minister Anil Deshmukh.

Sachin Vaze - Encounter Specialist facing charges in the Khwaja Yunus case - HT Photo

Vaze had moved bail plea through his lawyers Sajal Yadav and Aarti Kalekar on the ground that he was never arrested by the ED during the investigation and therefore, he should be granted bail in the money laundering case.

The plea was objected to by ED on the ground that he had moved the bail plea on the same ground which was rejected earlier by the court on merits, considering his role in the alleged crime. Since then, ED claimed, there is no change in circumstance and his second bail plea cannot be entertained.

The court, however, rejected the contention of ED and observed that Vaze has now proposed to become an approver in the case. Also, the court said ED has consented to the plea to allow him to become an approver.

Besides, the court said, the key accused – Nationalist Congress Party leader Anil Deshmukh has already been granted bail in this case by the Bombay high court.

The court in such circumstances held that there is a change of circumstances for the special court to consider Vaze’s second bail plea. Granting him bail the court observed that Vaze has always cooperated with the probe and he was not arrested by the agency at the time of the investigation.

ED’s money laundering case against Deshmukh is based on the FIR registered by the CBI on April 21, 2021, after former Mumbai police commissioner, Param Bir Singh accused him of trying to extort money from bars owners in Mumbai through some police officials, including Vaze, who is arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as prime accused in the Antilia explosives scare and connected murder of Thane based car accessories shop owner Mansukh Hiran.

In a letter written to the then Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and others on March 20, 2021, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had instructed certain Mumbai police officers, like Vaze, to collect an amount of ₹100 crore every month from Mumbai’s bar owners.

ED claimed that Vaze had accordingly called a meeting of bar owners and between December 2020 and February 2021, collected ₹4.70 crore from the owners of orchestra bars in Mumbai and handed over the “extorted money” in two instalments to Deshmukh’s personal assistant Kundan Shinde.