Mumbai Police Oppose ED's Plea To Record Sachin Waze's Statement In Money Laundering Case

Dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze is being used by the Enforcement Directorate as a "puppet" to obstruct the Mumbai police's extortion probe, it told a Magistrate's court, on Tuesday while opposing the central agency's application to record Waze's statement in a money laundering case. After hearing counsels for the Mumbai Police Crime Branch and ED, the court eventually refused the agency relief. Waze, earlier arrested in the Antilia terror scare case, is currently in the Mumbai Police's custody till November 13 in an extortion case in Goregaon against him, ex-Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and others. The ED approached the court to record Waze's statement under section 50(2) and (3) of the Act the PMLA Act in connection with a money laundering case against him and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Citing the urgency, ED's counsel Sanjana Sharma said that Deshmukh was in their custody only till November 12, therefore it was imperative to record Waze's statement and confront him. Special Public Prosecutor, Shekahr Jagtap appearing for Mumbai police crime branch vehemently argued that no person or agency can interfere in the investigation being conducted by a probe agency. Moreover, the grounds on which ED was seeking custody doesn't show urgency, he said. The application for two hours or two days doesn't stand legally.... legally speaking it's no maintainable in any form, he said. "Our investigation is in progress. They are trying to sabotage our investigation...the so called accused (Waze) is a puppet in their hands," Jagtap said. The ED's case is based on the CBI's corruption FIR against Deshmukh wherein Ex-Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that Deshmukh had asked dismissed cop Sachin Waze and two other officers to illegally collect Rs 100 crore from bar owners every month for him. Recently, the agency recently filed a prosecution complaint (equivalent of a chargesheet) against Waze and 12 others. Waze's statement is attached to that complaint in which he accused Deshmukh of asking him to extort money from bar owners to allow their businesses to function smoothly. In his statement to ED, Waze claimed that he referred to Deshmukh as 'no.1' while handing over the bribe money of Rs 4.7 crore to Deshmukh's PA. On the contrary, according to Mumbai police's extortion FIR, Waze referred to Param Bir as 'number 1' and not Anil Deshmukh. They have relied on a bar owner's statement to substantiate this claim.

Mumbai Police Oppose ED's Plea To Record Sachin Waze's Statement In Money Laundering Case

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