Mumbai top cop Sachin Vaze is at the heart of the grave conspiracy that has surfaced over the Antilla Bomb Scare case. The controversial cop who remained suspended for 16 years over a case of custodial death finds himself embroiled in another controversy less than a year following his reinstatement.
The circumstances of his reinstatement has come under intense scrutiny as well following his arrest by the NIA. According to Goa Chronicle, Sachin Vaze was reinstated following a decision that was reached in 10 minutes.
The Goa Chronicle report says that Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh called for a meeting at 10 pm on the 5th of June, 2020. A Committee was convened at 11 pm to review the suspension of Mumbai Police officers.
Following the decision in 10 minutes, the gazette notification for the reinstatement of police officers including one Sachin Vaze was sent to print at 2 a.m. in the night. The notification was printed by 3 a.m. and an hour later, concerned police officers have the gazette notification with his reinstatement.
Thus, at 4 a.m. on the 6th of June, 2020, Sachin Vaze was officially reinstated into the Mumbai Police. the same day, when he reported to the Mumbai Police Arms Division, he was asked to report to the Mumbai Commissioner of Police Office at 10AM. Reportedly, an internal order was issued by the Mumbai Commissioner of Police to depute him to Mumbai Crime Branch.
While his reinstatement was explained away as a measure to deal with staff shortage precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, even the Indian Express noted that he was by no means a ‘staff filler’.
The Indian Express noted in its report, “Within days of being taken back into the force, Vaze was moved to the Mumbai Crime Branch and made in charge of the CIU. Soon after, he began probing cases such as the fake social media followers case in which rapper Badshah was summoned.”
“Despite his relatively junior position in the hierarchy, he was soon handling every important case in Mumbai, from the Television Ratings Point (TRP) scam, to leading the team that arrested Arnab Goswami in the Anvay Naik suicide case to the Dilip Chhabria case to the Hrithik Roshan fake e-mail case,” it added.
Sachin Vaze was even part of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) that was felicitated by Param Bir Singh for “best detection of the TRP scam”. The team comprised of ACP Shashank Sanbhor and assistant police inspectors Sachin Vaze, Nitin Londhe, Santosh Kotwal and Riyaz Kazi. Riyaz Kazi has also been reportedly arrested by the NIA in the current case.
Sachin Vaze was suspended in March, 2004 over the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, a 27-year-old software engineer. He resigned three years later and following his resignation, he reportedly joined the Shiv Sena.
Since his arrest late Saturday night, he has admitted that he was involved in the Antilla Bomb Scare case, ABP News has reported. The report says that sources have claimed that Sachin Vaze was a very small part of the plan and the Shiv Sena leaders he named played a bigger role.
Earlier, it was reported that the explosive laden car found outside Reliance Group’s chief Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia was the same that was used by Mumbai top cop Sachin Vaze to escort Alibagh Police in Arnab case.
Furthermore, a white Innova, which was found tailing the explosive-laden Scorpio was recovered from Mumbai Police commissionerate office. The Scorpio car owner, Mansukh Hiren, was later found dead under mysterious circumstances. He was reportedly in touch with Vaze. Hiren’s wife has accused Vaze of murdering her husband.
He has been has been sent to NIA custody till 25th March.
