The ₹100-cr question: Vaze’s many U-turns during probe

Vaze is currently in custody of the CBI, which started its probe against former home minister Anil Deshmukh last April

MUMBAI: Roughly five months after dismissed policeman Sachin Vaze gave a statement to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that noted how he and other Mumbai police officers were instructed by former state home minister Anil Deshmukh to collect Rs 100 crore each month from bar owners in Mumbai, his statement before the state-appointed Justice (retired) K U Chandiwal Commission, formed to probe allegations against the politician, contended that he had no occasion to collect any money on behalf of the 73-year-old Nationalist Congress Party leader.

Vaze, who is currently in custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which started its probe against Deshmukh last April, was interrogated by the ED in June and July 2021, while he was lodged in Taloja jail. At the time, he told the federal agency that he was in touch with Deshmukh prior to his re-instatement as a policeman in 2020.

Vaze was suspended in March 2004 after the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) charged him and three policemen for the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, a terror accused. Vaze resigned from service in November 2007 but was reinstated when Param Bir Singh was the Mumbai police commissioner.

According to the charge sheet filed by the ED in August, Vaze said that Deshmukh had summoned him and a few other Mumbai police officers and instructed them to collect extortion money from bars and restaurants. A list of 1,750 bars was handed to them with the instruction of collecting Rs 3 lakh from each to help the police meet some of its target.

Vaze further said that he called a meeting of bar owners, and between December 2020 and February 2021, collected ₹4.7 crore from the owners of orchestra bars in Mumbai and handed over the “extorted money” in two instalments to Deshmukh’s personal assistant

Kundan Shinde. ED claimed that subsequently, a part of the amount was routed to an educational trust at Nagpur. However, on December 14, 2021, while testifying before justice (retired) K U Chandiwal commission, Vaze claimed that former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh or his office staff never made any demands for money from him. Also, he claimed he did not collect money from bar owners and therefore there was no occasion for him to handover.

During his cross examination before the commission, Vaze said that he never collected money (from Mumbai’s bars and restaurants) for Deshmukh or for any of his subordinates or staff. Vaze also said that he never gave any money to Deshmukh or his staff and also, Deshmukh or his ministry never interfered with the investigations of Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai police crime branch that Vaze headed after his reinstatement.

A statement given before the judicial commission and a testimony recorded before the special judge both has its own value, said advocate Prakash Shetty, a noted criminal lawyer, adding that, what he says during his testimony before the special CBI court would prevail.