State objects to Waze’s application to turn approver

The state has objected to former police officer Sachin Wazersquos application to turn approver in the custodial death case of Khwaja Yunus Waze is the prime accused in the case In his reply filed on Thursday Special Public Prosecutor Pradip D Gharat cited a number of grounds for the objection including contradictions in Wazersquos statements made at different times regarding his role in the case which could lead to the possibility of him lsquomisleadingrsquo the courtWaze and three policemen are accused in the death of 27yearold software engineer Khwaja Yunus who was arrested in the Ghatkopar bomb blast case which killed two people in December 2002 In January 2003 Yunus was said to have lsquoescapedrsquo when the vehicle in which he was supposedly being taken to Aurangabad met with an accident He was never seen againA courtdirected inquiry conducted by the state CID alleged that 14 policemen had connived in the custodial torture of Yunus and in disposing of his body However the government sanctioned the prosecution of only four policemen who were charged with murder and destruction of evidence Waze is accused No 1 He and his three coaccused were supposedly lsquoescortingrsquo Yunus to Aurangabad A petition seeking that the government sanction the prosecution of the other 10 policemen is pending in the Supreme CourtAlso Read Sachin Waze gets courts nod to execute power of attorney in connection with publication businessClaims and replyIn his handwritten application filed on January 29 Waze had said that he was lsquosufferingrsquo due to the pendency of the matter for the last 20 years But Gharat has pointed out that Waze got bail in the case way back in June 2004 Also Waze himself had caused delays in the case by challenging the orders passed by various courts Currently Gharat pointed out Waze is in jail in another matter the Antilia bomb scare case that took place in 2021Wazersquos application stated that he only joined the Khwaja Yunus investigation on January 6 2003 He claimed he had ldquono mechanism or authority to verify the identity of the already arrested terroristsrsquorsquo He even claimed that ldquothe terrorist Khwaja Yunus as appears in the photo in the case papers as well as in the newspapers was never handed over to merdquo But Gharat pointed out the charge sheet against Waze has police witnesses stating that Waze had interrogated Yunus the whole day on January 6 2003 starting from 1230 pmBesides both in his petition filed in 2005 before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court and in the judicial inquiry initially conducted into Yunusrsquos disappearance Waze had said that he reported to the DCB CID Powai on the morning of January 5 2003 and interrogated Yunus in the afternoon Either his averment in his application or these averments made before different forums have to be false says Gharatrsquos reply These contradictions show that Waze ldquowill not disclose the truth and will try to mislead the courtrdquo read the replyWaze had also made personal remarks against Gharat in his application accusing him of taking a stand that would ldquocause injusticersquorsquo to him and everybody concerned and ldquocause further indefinite delayrdquo Objecting to these remarks Gharatrsquos reply pointed out that in the past too Waze had made similar remarks against public prosecutors in this caseGharatrsquos reply includes objections filed by the police to Wazersquos approver offer In that they trace the history of the case and point out that Wazersquos original FIR filed against Yunus for allegedly having ldquoescapedrsquorsquo was closed as per court orders as B Summary maliciously false They also recall that finding Waze uncooperative the police had sought to conduct a narcoanalysis test on him But he managed to get a stay on it This also creates a doubt that Waze would mislead the court they state Gharat has urged the court to reject Wazersquos applicationJan 29Day plea was filed