Ten DCPs paid ₹40 cr each to Deshmukh, Parab: Sachin Vaze tells ED
In the statement recorded by ED on June 19 at Taloja jail, 52-year-old Vaze claimed that Deshmukh and Parab were not happy with Singh’s order regarding transfer and postings of the 10 DCPs and had got the order reversed.
Mumbai: Dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze in his statement to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that ₹40 crore was collected from ten deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) and “paid to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and transport minister Anil Parab” for “letting the order of then city police commissioner Param Bir Singh to transfer them go through”.
In the statement recorded by ED on June 19 at Taloja jail, 52-year-old Vaze claimed that Deshmukh and Parab were not happy with Singh’s order regarding transfer and postings of the 10 DCPs and had got the order reversed. “After 3-4 days, I came to know that after some adjustments and consideration of money, the said order was issued,” Vaze told ED in the statement.
The statements are part of the ED charge sheet filed last month against Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde in a money laundering case, in which the former minister is the main accused. HT accessed the ED charge sheet on Thursday.
“I came to know that a total sum of Rs. 40 crore was collected from the police officers listed in the said order and out of which ₹20 crore each was given to Shri. Anil Deshmukh, through Shri Sanjeev Palande, PS to Home Minister and Shri Anil Parab through one Shri. Bajrang Karmate, RTO Officer,” the statement read.
The money laundering case against Deshmukh and his aides was registered after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) against him on April 21.
In another statement recorded on June 21, also part of the ED charge sheet, Vaze claimed: “Shri Sanjeev Palande, PS to the Home Minister and Shri. Bajrang Karmate, RTO officer used to handle the dealings in connection with transfers and postings of police officers for Shri. Anil Deshmukh and Shri. Anil Parab, respectively.”
Vaze is lodged in Taloja jail in connection with cases pertaining to Antilia explosives scare and the subsequent murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran.
According to the charge sheet, Vaze also corroborated the allegations of corruption against Deshmukh, stating that in October 2020, the NCP leader called him at his official bungalow, Dnyaneshwari, where one Karunakar Shetty gave him a list of 1,750 bars and restaurants, on alleged instructions of the minister and “asked me to collect ₹3 lakh from each of the bars in lieu of favouring them for operating beyond restricted time and without any restrictions for occupancy”.
Vaze further said that after having meetings with the bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021, he collected a total of ₹4.7 crore from orchestra bar owners. He added that on instructions of Deshmukh, in January 2021, he handed over ₹1.60 crore in cash in five bags to Kundan Shinde outside Sahyadri guest house. Remaining ₹3 crore was handed over to Shinde in February, said the statement, adding that in a later meeting held at Dnyaneshwari in the same month, it was decided that a system for collection from hookah bars be developed on the lines of orchestra bars.
NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “Vaze himself has been arrested for a serious offence like murder by the NIA. He is tainted; he carried out a murder just to save himself. He is unnecessarily blaming an innocent and workaholic NCP leader Anil Deshmukh. We are hopeful Deshmukh will come out of this case innocent.”