‘Sachin Waze, Param Bir Singh tarnished image of Mumbai police’

Dismissed API Sachin Waze and former CP Param Bir Singh (right)

The 37th Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Monday granted custody of dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to the Mumbai crime branch investigating an extortion case against him and Param Bir Singh.

The crime branch told the court that Singh and Waze tarnished the image of Mumbai police. Waze, along with the co-accused, extorted money and a share in it was given to former commissioner of police (CP) Singh who is currently absconding.

In the court, the crime branch said it suspects that Waze was reinstated in the service after 17 years of suspension by Singh only with the intention of extortion. Waze was not only extorting money from bars and restaurants, but also threatening road contractors, it added.

The special public prosecutor, appearing for the crime branch, told the court that Waze is fit to appear before the Chandiwal commission, but he uses health as an excuse to avoid investigation whenever he is called. The commission was constituted by the state government to probe allegations against Singh.
The court remanded Waze to the crime branch's custody till November 6.

The case

The extortion case against Singh and Waze was registered at Goregaon police station on the complaint of builder-cum-hotelier Bimal Agarwal. The builder had alleged that Waze demanded R9 lakh from him to not conduct a raid on two bars and restaurants, in which he was a partner. They had also forced him to buy two smartphones worth around R2.92 lakh for them, Agarwal alleged. According to the complaint, the incident occurred between January 2020 and March 2021.

The complainant had also submitted several call recordings where Waze used code words allegedly to extort money.

The other accused named in the FIR are Sumit Singh alias Chintu, Alpesh Patel, Vinay Singh alias Babloo and gangster Chhota Shakeel's henchman Riyaz Bhati.