Antilia case: Sachin Vaze suspended again
The Mumbai Police on Monday suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze following his arrest by the National Investigation Authority (NIA) in connection with its probe on the recovery of explosives from an SUV parked outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence last month, even as his brother Sudharm Vaze filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bombay high court on Monday against the arrest claiming that Vaze was being made into a “scapegoat” by “certain political powers”
The Mumbai Police on Monday suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze following his arrest by the National Investigation Authority (NIA) in connection with its probe on the recovery of explosives from an SUV parked outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence last month, even as his brother Sudharm Vaze filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bombay high court on Monday against the arrest claiming that Vaze was being made into a “scapegoat” by “certain political powers”.
Vaze, 49, remained the centre of political debate as leaders from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said that his arrest would allow for further investigation into ruling Shiv Sena leaders.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met Monday afternoon to deliberate on damage control measures. According to the leaders of the ruling coalition government, Pawar and Thackeray discussed a strategy to find the way out from the crisis. Thackeray also met Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.
Vaze, 49, a former head of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai Crime Branch was initially lead investigator after a Scorpio carrying 20 loose gelatin sticks (unassembled, with no detonator or timer) was found outside Antilia on Carmichael Road on February 25, but the case was transferred to the NIA on March 8.
Mumbai Police spokesperson and deputy commissioner of police S Chaitanya said, “API Sachin Vaze has been placed under suspension by an order of the additional commissioner of police, special branch.”
Also, the NIA questioned five people from CIU, including API Riyazuddin Kazi, API Prakash Howal, and three constables, on Monday. The NIA had also questioned Kazi and Howal on Sunday.
Kazi was part of Vaze’s investigation team and NIA questioned him over the records made at Carmichael Road, where Antilia is situated, and in Hiran’s shop in Thane.
The NIA also collected CCTV footage from the Mumbai police control room as well as from several sites in Mumbai and Thane. Two NIA officers also visited Vaze’s house in Saket, Thane on Monday afternoon, to question his family in connection with an explosives-laden SUV found near Ambani’s residence.
The team questioned the family for over five hours and was still there by the time of going to the press. No one was allowed to enter the complex during this time, residents said.
This was the team’s first visit to Vaze’s house after his arrest.
Vaze’s brother, Sudharma Vaze said, “We have filed a writ petition and our lawyer has asked us not to talk to the media. We will make a statement to the media after March 25 to make our stand clear in the said matter.”
Vaze was questioned for over 12 hours on March 13 by the NIA, along with other investigators in the case. However, only he was arrested late Saturday night, and produced before the NIA court the following day. He was remanded to the custody of the NIA till March 25.
A habeas corpus petition, usually filed to challenge illegal detention or arrest.
Sudharm’s petition stated that Vaze cooperated with the NIA, gave them all the corroborative pieces of evidence and yet, after several hours of interrogation, he was arrested without being served a copy of the First Information Report, or being informed of the nature of allegations against him. It further claimed that he was not allowed to speak to his lawyers or family members, which is a violation of his fundamental rights.
This is the second time that Vaze has faced suspension. In 2004, he was suspended after being arrested for the alleged custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, an accused in a 2002 bomb blast that took place in Ghatkopar. Vaze eventually left the force in 2007.
He was reinstated in 2020 after the suspension order was revoked. His reinstatement has been challenged by Yunus’s mother in the Bombay high court.
Vaze’s lawyers Sudeep Pasbola and Raunak Naik had moved an application on Sunday before the special court, claiming that Vaze had been illegally detained by NIA officials since Saturday morning, and that they were also denied a copy of the remand application. They further told the court that Vaze’s family had not been informed about his arrest, and Vaze was not apprised of his rights and the grounds of his arrest.
The court on Monday asked Pasbola and Naik to apply for certified copy of the remand application.
Denying the allegations, NIA counsel Sunil Gonsalves told the court that Vaze was summoned by NIA officials on Saturday in his capacity as the previous investigating officer in the probe pertaining to the explosives found in the Scorpio.
He said that there were discrepancies in various documents filed in the course of the investigation, and that Vaze, who did not have his cellphone on him, had further refused to give the contact details of his family members after his arrest.
Vaze is also under the scanner for the mysterious death of 48-year-old Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was linked to the Scorpio found outside Ambani’s residence. Hiran was found dead in a creek in Thane district on March 5.
Vaze had been transferred to the Citizen Facilitation Centre last week, after leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis sought his arrest following the statement Hiran’s wife Vimla gave to the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) team investigating her husband’s death.
In her statement, Vimla said that she suspected Vaze had a hand in Hiran’s death.
Since then, Vaze has also become the subject of a political slugfest between the coalition partners of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Sachin Vaze has been suspended once again. But why, how, on what basis and who reappointed him on June 6, 2020? It should be investigated. Persons responsible must be punished,” BJP leader Kirit Somaiya tweeted on Monday.
BJP legislator Nitesh Rane on Monday alleged that Yuva Sena leader Varun Sardesai was linked to Vaze in the latter’s alleged extortion racket from bookies during the previous Indian Premier League.
Rane demanded that the NIA seek the call detail records of Vaze and Sardesai.
Sardesai, who is a cousin of Aaditya Thackeray refuted these claims and said, “The allegations that the BJP legislator made today are baseless and therefore I am going to file a criminal defamation against legislator Nitesh Rane. He should either apologise in 7 days for false allegations or should face legal action and prove them.”
On Sunday, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had come out in support of Vaze, as an “honest” cop, and said that the investigation into the case needed to proceed unassailed by politics.
Sudharm’s petition filed through advocate Sunny Punnamiya stated that Vaze had been an upright and law abiding officer working with Mumbai police for 17 years but was made a scapegoat by some political powers based on the allegations of Vimla Hiran.
(inputs from Anamika Gharat)