After having been in the NIA’s custody for nearly four weeks, Mumbai’s suspended police officer Sachin Vaze was on Friday remanded by a Special Court here to judicial custody till April 23 in the twin explosive laden SUV planting and alleged Manshuk Hiran murder cases.
Special Judge P. R. Sitre sent Vaze to the Taloja Central jail on a day when he allowed the CBI – which is conducting a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in the alleged corruption case – access to diaries belonging to Sachin Vaze and convicted constable Vinayak Shinde that were recovered earlier by the NIA.
Earlier, the NIA did not press for the extension of Vaze’s custody when it produced him before the special NIA court which sent him to 14-day judicial custody.
Vaze was questioned for the third consecutive day in connection with allegations of corruption made by Mumbai’s former police commissioner Param Bir Singh against the State’s former Home Minister.
The Bombay High Court had on April 5 ordered a “Preliminary Enquiry” (PE) by the CBI into Singh’s allegation that the then State Home Minister Deshmukh had asked Vaze in February to "collect" a staggering Rs 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions filed by the MVA government and Deshmukh challenging the High Court order instituting a “preliminary inquiry” by the CBI into the allegations of corruption made by the former police commissioner against the former State Home Minister.
Vaze had earlier this week created a sensation by making a written submission before the special NIA Court accusing Deshmukh and another Maharashtra Minister Anil Parab of asking him to Indulge in extortion for them.
Informed sources in the NIA said that the agency was ascertaining if former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma 'provided logistics support' in the alleged planting of gelatin sticks’ laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s skyscraper mansion in south Mumbai on February 25. The NIA had recorded the statement of Sharma on Thursday.
Vaze, who was arrested on March 13 in connection with the gelatine sticks laden Scorpion recovery case, was earlier booked under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 465 (forgery) 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal) and 506 -2 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 4 (a)(b)(i) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
Vaze, who was the first accused to have been arrested by the NIA which registered an FIR in the explosive-laden SUV recovery case on March 8, was subsequently booked under sections 16 (Punishment for Terror act) and 18 (Punishment for conspiracy etc) of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
On March 24, Thane court asked the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police to stop investigations into the alleged murder of SUV recovery case-linked businessman Mansukh Hiran and hand over the case to the NIA.