Anil Deshmukh, Anil Parab asked me to extort over Rs 100 crore: Sachin Vaze in explosive letter to NIA
- In Reports
- 10:47 PM, Apr 07, 2021
- Myind Staff
Suspended Mumbai Police cop Sachin Vaze has accused Maharashtra ministers Anil Deshmukh and Anil Parab of extortion in his handwritten letter to National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
Sachin Vaze has alleged that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was against his reinstatement into Mumbai Police last year and wanted it to be repealed.
In the letter, Vaze claims that he was told to pay former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh Rs 2 crores if he wants to be let back into the police force. It is pertinent to note that Vaze was dismissed from the police force after he was accused in the custodial death of one Khwaja Younis. Thereafter, he had joined the Shiv Sena.
The tainted cop also claimed that Anil Deshmukh had called him to the Sahyadri Guest House in October 2020 and asked him to collect money from 1,650 restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
"I refused saying it was not within the scope of my capability," Sachin Vaze stated.
According to him, Anil Deshmukh put forward the same demand again in January 2021 when the two met at Deshmukh's official residence. Sachin Vaze has alleged that the minister's PA Kundan was also present at the meeting as the then home minister asked him to collect Rs 3-3.5 lakh from each of the 1,650 restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
Sachin Vaze further claimed in the letter that Maharashtra Transport Minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab had asked him to extort money for him. The suspended cop has claimed that Anil Parab met him in July-August 2020 and asked him to extort Rs 50 crore from the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which was facing a probe.
"In July-August 2020, I was called by Minister Anil Parab at his official bungalow... At the meeting, Parab asked me to look into the complaint under preliminary inquiry and bring the trustees of the SBUT to him for negotiations about the inquiry. He also insisted to initiate primary talks to get Rs 50 crore from SBUT in order to close the said enquiry. I had expressed my inability to do any such thing as I do not know anybody from SBUT and also I did not have any control over the inquiry," Sachin Vaze told NIA.
He further alleged that Anil Parab also called him once again in January this year and asked him to delve into an investigation against some contractors listed in the BMC and collect Rs 2 crore each from them.
He also claimed that he had apprised then Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh about the extortion demands by Anil Deshmukh and Anil Parab, but the latter reportedly told him not to act on the demands.
"...I met the Police Commissioner (Param Bir Singh) and told him that I expressed my apprehension about this...I told him that I would be embroiled in a false controversy in the near future. The CP encouraged me and categorically instructed me not to involve myself in any such illegal collection of money from anyone and for anyone," Sachin Vaze alleged.
The suspended Mumbai Police assistant inspector's letter substantiates some of the claims made by Mumbai Police officer Param Bir Singh, who, in his March 20 letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray, alleged that Anil Deshmukh had asked police officers, comprising Sachin Vaze, to collect Rs 100 crore each month from restaurants and bars.
Meanwhile, a Mumbai court on Wednesday extended the NIA custody of the suspended Mumbai cop till April 9 in the Antilia bomb scare case. The NIA arrested Sachin Vaze on March 13.
As per updates, a team of the central probe agency landed in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon, collected all relevant documents and initiated the preliminary probe in compliance with the high court order. "The CBI has registered a PE in the respect of the Bombay High Court order dated April 5, 2021," CBI spokesperson RC Joshi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
(Inputs from Agencies)
Image Source: India Today
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