The Enforcement Directorate has accepted the request of disgraced cop Sachin Vaze to become an approver in a money laundering case against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. This is the second case against Deshmukh where Vaze is now an approver.
As per reports, the central agency has filed an application before a special court for the same. The former assistant police inspector is accused of collecting a whopping sum of ₹4.3 crores from owners of dance bars in Mumbai and handing it over to the personal staff of the ex-Maharashtra Home Minister.
Anil Deshmukh would then route the funds to his educational trust in Nagpur through a hawala operator based in Delhi. The money extorted from dance bars was shown as donations in account books.
In February this year, Sachin Vaze wrote to Enforcement Directorate Officers and sought permission to be made an approver in the money laundering case against Deshmukh. He demanded that he be pardoned in exchange for his services.
Sachin Vaze is also a prime accused in the Mansukh Hiren murder and Antilia bomb scare cases.
CBI case against Sachin Vaze
Vaze was earlier made the approver by the CBI in another corruption case against Anil Deshmukh. The central agency had stated that Vaze had first-hand knowledge of the involvement of other accused in the money laundering case and that he had confessed to his involvement in the crime.
“The confessional statement made by Sachin Vaze has been corroborated on material aspects by oral and documentary evidence collected during the course of investigation…Sachin Vaze acted as an accomplice in conspiracy with co-accused namely Anil Deshmukh and his staff… in the commission of the offences…,” the CBI informed.
Sachin Vaze is in judicial custody for three cases. The first one is the case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai and the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.
The second one is the CBI case in which he has already turned an approver. It is a preliminary inquiry of Rs 100 crore corruption allegations against former home minister Anil Deshmukh that were raised by Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. On June 1st, a special CBI court had allowed Sachin Vaze to turn approver and depose as a prosecution witness against other accused including Maharashtra’s former home minister Anil Deshmukh.
The third one is a money laundering case against Anil Deshmukh and others, where he has turned approver now.
