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CBI quizzes staff of Anil Deshmukh and former Mumbai cop Sachin Vaze
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned two of Anil Deshmukh’s personal assistants (PAs), Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde, and former cop Sachin Vaze’s two drivers in connection with the corruption allegation made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh against the former home minister
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned two of Anil Deshmukh’s personal assistants (PAs), Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde, and former cop Sachin Vaze’s two drivers in connection with the corruption allegation made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh against the former home minister.
Palande and Shinde reached the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) guest house in Santacruz (East) around 10am. They were questioned till 8.30pm. Vaze’s drivers, whose names have not been revealed, reached DRDO guest house at 4pm and were being questioned till the time of going to print.
CBI took their statements to find out if Deshmukh had asked Vaze and assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Patil to collect ₹100 crore from hotels, bars and restaurants in the city, as alleged by Singh in his eight-page letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20.
Singh had also mentioned in his letter that when Patil went to meet Deshmukh at the latter’s residence, Palande and Shinde were present there.
A CBI team, which is in Mumbai to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Deshmukh as directed by the Bombay high court (HC), had also recorded Singh’s statement on April 8 – a day after Vaze attempted to submit a letter to the special court in which he stated that Deshmukh and state transport minister Anil Parab had asked him to extort money from entrepreneurs and establishments. Deshmukh and Parab had denied the allegations. Deshmukh had resigned from the cabinet on April 5 after the HC order.
In an official report submitted on April 7, newly appointed Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale said all critical decisions related to arrests and raids in the Antilia explosives scare probe were taken under the directions of Vaze, who was then an assistant police inspector (API). The report stated that though an API does not usually report directly to the police chief, Vaze had reported directly to Singh.
Previously, CBI had also recorded the statements of deputy commissioner of police Raju Bhujbal, Patil, and Jaishri Patil – who petitioned HC for independent probe into the corruption allegations.
The agency also recorded Vaze’s statement – when he was in the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Antilia explosives case.
To corroborate the allegations made by Singh, CBI also recorded the statement of a Kandivli bar owner, who was allegedly extorting money each month from other restaurant owners at the behest of a former police officer.
NIA is probing the case of an explosives-laden SUV parked outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence on February 25. Vaze was arrested in the case as well as in the alleged murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was linked to the SUV placed outside Antilia. Hiran’s wife Vimla said Vaze was using the SUV since last November till February 5.
Hiran, a spare parts trader, was allegedly murdered on March 4, the day he went missing. His body was found floating in a creek at Retibunder in Mumbra the next day. Along with Vaze, former police constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Ramniklal Gor are also arrested in the case.
The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) was investigating the Hiran murder case, before it was handed over to NIA.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had also constituted a committee on March 30 under retired justice KU Chandiwal to probe the allegations levelled against Anil Deshmukh. But experts told the government that the findings of the panel would have limited legal standings as the CBI probe would have wider scope.
