Suspended cop Sachin Vaze on Wednesday moved an application before the state-appointed one-member high-level enquiry committee, stating that former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had indeed made monetary demands of him and had even instructed him to extort Rs 100 crore from the city’s bars and restaurants. He told the commission chaired by Justice (retd.) Kailash Chandiwal that at the time the panel was recording his testimony, he was under ‘immense pressure’ from Deshmukh, who had threatened to kill his family.
This comes as a huge setback for Deshmukh, who wanted to bring to light ‘param satya’ by exposing former top cop Param Bir Singh by claiming that he had orchestrated the entire conspiracy against the senior NCP leader.
In his application, Vaze, through advocate Rounak Naik, urged the commission to allow him to retract his testimony recorded by the panel, at least a month ago.
Notably, last month, in his cross-examination before the Chandiwal Commission, Vaze had stated that Deshmukh had never made any monetary demands, either directly or through his personal assistant. He had further stated that Deshmukh had never instructed him to extort money from bars and restaurants.
However, on Wednesday, in his application, Vaze said that he wanted to retract his original statements.
“I was under immense pressure at the time when my statements were being recorded. Deshmukh had threatened to kill my family,” Vaze told the commission, adding, “For the two questions which I denied, the answers were actually yes.”
“He had indeed made monetary demands and had even instructed me to extort monies,” the suspended cop told Justice Chandiwal.
Vaze further told the commission that Deshmukh continues to be a “strong and powerful” person and there is constant pressure on him (Vaze) to not speak the truth.
The commission, however, noted that Vaze had come up with this application at least a month after his testimony was recorded.
“This cannot be allowed after a month. You could have filed it earlier,” Justice Chandiwal said, while turning down the plea.
