Sachin Waze collected Rs 4.7 crore cash from bar owners for ‘No. 1’: ED

Suspended police officer Sachin Waze has told the ED that he collected Rs 470 crore cash from Mumbai bar owners and handed it over to the personal assistant of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh the central probe agency claimed on SaturdayIt also claimed that Waze the former head of crime intelligence unit CIU of Mumbai police informed the bar owners and managers that this money will go to No1 and crime branch and social service branch of Mumbai PoliceHe further told the agency that he was getting direct instructions from Anil Deshmukh the then home minister in a number of police investigationsThe ED made these allegations in its remand application field before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA court in Mumbai seeking custody of Deshmukhs aides personal secretary Sanjeev Palande 51 and personal assistant Kundan Shinde 45 whom it had arrested early on SaturdayThe court sent them to ED custody till July 1The ED had arrested them after it raided multiple locations in Nagpur Mumbai and Ahmedabad including the residences of Deshmukh in a money laundering case related to an alleged multicrore briberycumextortion racket that led to his resignation in AprilThe former cop recorded his statement with the ED saying he was called for a meeting at the official residence of Maharashtra home minister wherein he was given a list of bar and restaurant ownersIn the meeting Waze said he was asked to collect Rs 3 lakh per month from each bar and restaurantWaze has also stated that he had collected approx Rs 470 crore from various bar owners between the months of December 2020 to February 2021 and handed over the same to Kundan Sambhaji Shinde the PA of Anil Deshmukh the home minister on instruction of Anil Deshmukh in two installments in the month of January and February 2021 the ED allegedThe agency said it questioned and recorded the statement of Waze twice at the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai where he is in custody in connection with a case of alleged parking of an explosivesladen SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambanis residence in MumbaiThis Rs 470 crore was collected from various orchestra bar owners and managers for smooth functioning of their bars after restricted hours without the restrictions of performance artist and interference by the police the ED saidThe ED said Wazes statement was further confirmed by two police officers who were also questioned by itThey categorically mentioned that they were told by Waze about collection of money from various bar owners and both were called by Palande the PS of Anil Deshmukh who inquired about number of bars and collections from the various bars the ED claimedThe agency claimed that a part of this alleged cash bribe money was sent through hawala to four paper or shell companies located in Delhi that later diverted about Rs 418 crore funds in garb of donations to a Nagpur based charitable trust whose chairman is DeshmukhThe ED said during the scrutiny of bank statements of the charitable trust identified as Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha a number of cheque entries in the recent past amounting to Rs 418 crore were received by it from four Delhibased shell companiesThe owners of these alleged fake companies told ED that they were contacted by a Nagpurbased person seeking transferadjustment of funds in garb of donation to the said charitable trustMoney was received in form of cash from said Nagpur based person on instruction of Deshmukh family and same was channelised through web of various companies to the said trust in garb of loansdonationsA total of about Rs 418 crore were thus diverted to the said trust in garb of loans or donations the ED said quoting the statements of the promoters Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra JainIt is apparent the ED said that Deshmukh by virtue of his earlier position as home minister of Maharashtra government has received amounts to the tune of Rs 470 crore from the orchestra bars owners and managers for smooth functioning of bars and the said bribe money was apparently used by him through his son Hrishikesh Deshmukh for providing cash to Delhi based paper companies and after layering the same routed to the charitable trust in the form of donation the agency allegedIt said Shinde was instrumental in collecting cash from Waze on behalf of DeshmukhDescribing the role of Palande the ED alleged he was instrumental in passing instructions of Deshmukh with regard to transfer postings and collection of monies from orchestra bar owners and further analysing and assessing the work of collection of tainted monies through police officials and assisted Deshmukh in money launderingIt said both the aides of Deshmukh have emerged as important cogs in the wheels of this case and they have also received money in cashThe ED told the court that as an allegation of collection of about Rs 100 crore have been made in this case the entire money trail requires to be established in order to bring the guilty to the bookThe involvement of foreign angle many not be ruled out at this stage it saidThe ED case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the CBI first carried out a preliminary inquiry followed by a regular case being filed on the orders of the Bombay High CourtThe court had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI to look into the allegations of bribery of Rs 100 made against Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir SinghThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever