NIA searches Sachin Waze's office; court rejects his plea against arrest

The NIA which is probing the case related to the recovery of an SUV with explosives near industrialist Mukesh Ambanis house on Tuesday searched arrested police official Sachin Wazes office here A court meanwhile rejected Wazes plea contending that the manner of his arrest by the agency was illegalWaze arrested in the case on March 13 was attached to the Crime Intelligence Unit CIU of city polices crime branch till recently The office is located in the police commissioners office compound in south MumbaiThe National Investigation Agency team recovered some incriminating documents and electronic evidence such as laptop iPad and mobile phones from Wazes office there a police official saidThe searches started around 8 pm on Monday and were going on till 4 am on Tuesday he said The NIA has so far recorded statements of seven officials of Crime Branch including an Assistant Commissioner of Police the official saidThe agency also questioned on the third consecutive day CIUs Assistant Police Inspector API Riyazuddin Kazi he addedKazi had collected Digital Video Record DVR of CCTVs from the housing society in Saket area of Thane where Waze lived on February 27 two days after the explosivesladen Scorpio was found on Carmichael Road near Ambanis houseThe probe agency suspects that it was collected to destroy evidence which could implicate Waze himself the official said During the search the DVR was seizedThe wife of businessman Mansukh Hiran who had claimed the Scorpio was stolen from his possession and who died mysteriously has alleged that the SUV was being used by Waze for some timeAPI Kazi had also allegedly procured fake number plates found in the SUV the police official claimed The SUV case was taken over by the NIA following Mansukh Hirans deathA special court on Sunday remanded Waze in the custody of the central agency till March 25 On Tuesday the court rejected Wazes plea claiming that his arrest was illegal His lawyers Sajal Yadav and Sunny Punamiya had argued that Waze was not produced before the court within 24 hours after his arrest as is requiredNo sanction was taken from the state government under section 451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the lawyers contended Under section 451 sanction of the government is necessary if an official is to be arrested for anything done in hisher official capacitySpecial public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves denied the allegations Waze was arrested at 1150 PM on Saturdayand produced before the court at about 245 PM next day he saidWaze had been called in the morning for some clarification about the probe but he arrived late at night the prosecutor claimed Wazes lawyers had alleged he had been detained since 11 AM on SaturdaySanction was not needed as Waze had not acted in discharge of his official duty the NIA lawyer said Judge P R Sitre while rejecting Wazes plea observed that he was a policeman and knew his rightsThe entry in the station diary clearly reflects that intimation was provided to the accused and the concerned police station and also information about his arrest which means grounds of arrest were provided the judge saidWhether he had acted in the course of performance of duty can be examined during the trial the court held The court allowed Wazes lawyer to watch his interrogation from behind a glass partition but not within the hearing distanceSpeaking to reporters here BJP leader Pravin Darekar said the more the ruling Shiv Sena defended Waze the more suspicion there will be about the state governments intentionsThe Sena had on Monday said takeover of the case by the NIA was insult to Maharashtra policeThis 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