Mumbai Crime Branch takes Sachin Vaze's custody in extortion case

The Mumbai Crime Branch on Monday took the custody of dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze in connection with an extortion case registered against him at suburban Goregaon, an official said.

After taking Vaze's custody, the crime branch personnel took him to the Esplanade court here to seek his further remand for interrogation in the case. A special court here last week allowed the Mumbai police to take the custody of Vaze, who was lodged in Navi Mumbai's Taloja jail, for interrogation in the case. Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh is also an accused in the case.

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Vaze, the 49-year-old assistant police inspector, was dismissed from service after his arrest in March this year in the case related to the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's south Mumbai residence and the subsequent murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.

The Mumbai Crime branch, probing the extortion case registered at Goregaon police station, had sought his custody from the special court, saying it was necessary for further probe into the offence.

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Considering the fact that Vaze recently underwent bypass surgery, the court had called for a report about his health condition from the prison authorities. The court, after finding that he was fit to travel for a few days, last week directed the jail authorities to hand over his custody to the Mumbai police on November 1. The extortion case had been registered against Vaze, Param Bir Singh and others on a complaint of builder-cum-hotelier Bimal Agrawal.

Four others - Sumit Singh alias Chintu, Alpesh Patel, Vinay Singh alias Babloo and Riyaz Bhati - have also been named as accused in the case. As per the complaint by Agarwal, the accused extorted Rs 9 lakh from him for not conducting a raid on two bars and restaurants, which he ran in partnership, and also forced him to buy two smartphones worth around Rs 2.92 lakh for them.

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The incident occurred between January 2020 and March 2021, police earlier said. Accordingly, the case was filed under Indian Penal Code Sections 384 and 385 (both pertaining to extortion) 34 (common intention) against the six accused and a probe in the case is on, they had said.

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