CBI arrested Sachin Vaze, Anil Deshmukh’s PA and PS

In a corruption case filed against the 72-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) politician, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Monday placed fired policeman Sachin Vaze and two ex-aides in CBI custody till April 11. Sanjeev Palande, Deshmukh’s personal secretary, and Kundan Shinde, Deshmukh’s personal assistant, were taken into custody by CBI officials from Arthur Road jail, where they were detained. Vaze was arrested and sent to Taloja jail. Deshmukh, on the other hand, was not detained since he was admitted to the JJ Hospital on Saturday.

The CBI has stated that the NCP leader’s admission to JJ Hospital is an intentional attempt to dodge the agency. “The accused Anil Deshmukh purposely and deliberately got himself committed to the JJ Hospital on April 2 with the sole goal of avoiding police custody and delaying the inquiry,” the agency said in a remand application filed on Monday for the other three people detained in the case.

Following a medical examination, Vaze, Palande, and Shinde were brought before a special CBI court. CBI counsel Raj Mohan Chand sought the three’s custody remand, noting that while explanations were gotten from them on several issues, there were significant contradictions that needed to be resolved. “We have also recorded Sachin Vaze’s confessional statements, which corroborate with the confessions of other witnesses in the case,” he added.

He stated that the accused’s custody remand was necessary to discover the deep-rooted conspiracy and added that the arrested accused may be subjected to scientific questioning techniques during their confrontation, for which they may be transported to CBI headquarters in New Delhi.

Palande’s lawyer, Sairuchita Choudhary, objected to the plea, claiming that the FIR was filed a year ago and that the accused had only recently been apprehended. She mentioned that multiple raids were conducted at Palande’s home, but nothing was discovered. She further stated that no unusual grounds for imprisonment were cited in the remand.

Vaze was arrested on March 13, 2021, by the NIA in connection with the Antilia explosives scare and the murder of Thane-based car accessories shop owner Mansukh Hiran, while Deshmukh, 72, was arrested on November 2, 2021, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case against him, his son Hrishikesh, and others.

The CBI obtained a production warrant to arrest the four on Thursday. Based on the warrant, the agency petitioned the special PMLA and NIA courts on Friday for permission to arrest them in connection with the corruption case filed against Anil Deshmukh on April 21, 2021.

The CBI case is based on corruption charges made by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. In a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray dated March 20, 2021, Singh claimed that Deshmukh had directed some Mumbai police personnel, including assistant inspector Sachin Vaze, to collect Rs 100 crore from Mumbai’s eateries and bars every month.

The ED has charged Deshmukh, his son Hrishikesh, and others with money laundering. Vaze allegedly organised a conference of bar owners on Deshmukh’s orders and collected 4.7 crore from the owners of orchestra bars in Mumbai between December 2020 and February 2021 to avoid police intrusion.

Vaze confessed in his testimony to the ED that he had given the “extorted money” to Kundan Shinde in two instalments.

The ED detained Shinde and Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande in the money laundering case on June 26 and filed a charge sheet against them on August 23. In the charge sheet, Vaze is also named as an accused.