Suspended cop Sachin Vaze dismissed from service, say Mumbai Police

Sachin Vaze was arrested by the NIA in March. He has been named main accused in Antilia bomb scare and death of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.

The Mumbai Police said on Tuesday that Sachin Vaze, who is being investigated in connection with Mukesh Ambani security threat case, has been dismissed from service, news agency ANI reported. Vaze is also being investigated in connection with the death of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, whose car was found with gelatin sticks near billionaire Mukesh Ambani's house Antilia in Mumbai.

File photo of Sachin Vaze.(HT File Photo)

The order terminating Vaze's service was issued by Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale, said a spokesperson of the city police. And official said that the order has been issued under Provision of 311(2)(B) Constitution of India by Commissioner of Police, Greater Mumbai, which deals with dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil capacities under the Union or a state on certain grounds.

A 1990-batch officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Vaze (49) was suspended after his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on March 13. The NIA is probing both the cases.

The Antilia case led to a political storm in Maharashtra, with Param Bir Singh, who was removed as Mumbai Police chief, accused state NCP leader Anil Deshmukh of asking Vaze to collect ₹100 crore from city pubs and hotels. Deshmukh resigned as Maharashtra home minister last month in the wake of the allegations and the Enforcement Directorate has registered money laundering case against him.

Deshmukh has accused Singh of making false allegations against him. "When the NIA started investigating the matter (SUV-Hiran murder case), to avoid any hindrance I had transferred Singh from the post of Mumbai police commissioner. As a revenge for his transfer, Singh made false allegations against me," Deshmukh claimed last week.

On February 25, a Mahindra Scorpio SUV owned by Hiran was found abandoned near Antilia with 20 loose gelatin sticks and a threatening note, and a case was registered with Gamdevi police station on the same day.

Vaze was originally investigating the case, but was removed after reports emerged of his links with Hiran, who had reported it stolen on February 17. Hiran was found dead in a creek on March 5. It subsequently emerged that Vaze had borrowed the car in November and returned it on February 5.

Apart from Vaze, the NIA has arrested his former colleague at CIU, assistant police inspector Riyazuddin Kazi, former policeman Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Ramniklal Gor in the case. The NIA has named Vaze as the main accused in both the cases.

Vaze, now lodged in jail, was reinstated in the Mumbai Police in June 2020 after being suspended for 16 years in a case related to alleged custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, an accused in the Ghatkopar bomb blast of 2002.

Post-reinstatement, he was appointed the head of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), an elite branch of the Mumbai Crime Branch.