'Waze is in judicial custody and as per the rules he is not supposed to meet anyone. I have instructed Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale to probe the matter,' state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil told reporters
Sachin Waze and Param Bir Singh. File Pic
The Maharashtra government has ordered a probe into a meeting between dismissed police officer Sachin Waze and IPS officer Param Bir Singh which has caused a flutter as Waze is in judicial custody and both are accused in extortion case.
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State minister Nawab Malik, meanwhile, accused Waze and Singh of planning the 'Antilia' bomb threat episode which rocked the state in March this year. "Waze is in judicial custody and as per the rules he is not supposed to meet anyone. I have instructed Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale to probe the matter," state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil told reporters.
He also objected to Singh -- now Director General of Home Guards who remained absent from duty for over six months before surfacing last week to face probe in multiple cases of extortion -- using a government vehicle for moving around. Singh has not been reporting to work for long and is not supposed to use government vehicle, Walse-Patil said.
The alleged meeting took place on November 29 in an adjoining room on the second floor of a building housing Singh's office in south Mumbai when he appeared before Justice Chandiwal (retired) Commission, which is operating from the same premises. The commission is probing allegations of corruption levelled by Singh against NCP leader and then home minister Anil Deshmukh after the IPS officer was shunted out from the post of Mumbai police commissioner.
Waze had been brought there for cross-examination. Notably, Navi Mumbai police commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said they did not have any information about the meeting. The police who escorted Waze were from Navi Mumbai police as he is lodged in Taloja jail. Both Waze and Singh are co-accused in an extortion case filed in Goregaon, a Mumbai suburb.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Nawab Malik alleged that Singh, who was then Mumbai police commissioner, and Waze planned the 'Antilia' bomb scare episode.
An explosives-laden SUV was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence 'Antilia' in south Mumbai in February this year. A few days later, businessman Mansukh Hiran, who had claimed that the SUV had been stolen from his possession, was found dead in a creek in neighbouring Thane district.
"Param Bir Singh and Sachin Waze had planned the Antilia bomb threat. They had even made a fake passport with the entry and exit stamps of Pakistan for a goon. If Mansukh Hiran hadn't been killed or had he surrendered, the the duo had planned the fake encounter of the goon, showing him as a terrorist," Malik claimed.
"Singh and Waze...were briefing the home minister (Anil Deshmukh, who later resigned) and the CM (Uddhav Thackeray) and based on it the latter were speaking in the legislature. Both the officers were misleading the minister," Malik claimed. Singh was not available for comment on Malik's allegations.
Param Bir Singh appeared before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for the second day in a row to record his statement in two extortion cases against him -- one registered at Marine Drive police station in Mumbai and another at Kopri police station in Thane. Singh arrived at the CID's office in Konkan Bhawan building at Belapur in Navi Mumbai at 3.10 pm in a private SUV and left after around three and a half hours.
Also Read: Corruption allegations: Anil Deshmukh appears before inquiry commission
Earlier in the day, the IPS officer appeared before a court in Mumbai which canceled a non-bailable warrant issued against him for not appearing in the case registered at the Marine Drive police station in south Mumbai. Singh, declared absconding by courts in Mumbai and Thane, surfaced in public last Thursday after over six months.
The Supreme Court has granted him temporary protection from arrest. The IPS officer is facing at least five extortion cases in Maharashtra.
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