A short while after Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze was sent to NIA custody till March 25, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra of protecting Waze, stating that this raises questions about the state government.
Speaking to reporters here today, Fadnavis said, "Sachin Waze's arrest raises questions on the government. Maharashtra chief minister and home minister were protecting him as if they were his lawyers. I think only one angle has come out but Mansukh Hiren death case isn't solved yet. Probe will reveal who was involved and what was the intention."
"API (Assistant Police Inspector) Sachin Waze was suspended by High Court for 16 years. When I was the chief minister, Shiv Sena leaders demanded to revoke his suspension. The new government took him back giving an excuse of COVID. He was made Crime Intelligence Unit's chief and was given major cases," said Fadnavis.
"The person who is facing arrest was the investigating officer in the Mansukh Hiren death case. If someone behaves so terribly, then one must think what would happen to the image of the Mumbai Police," said the BJP leader.
Waze first came under the scanner when he was suspended in March 2004 after allegations of custodial death of a 2002 Ghatkopar blast suspect Khwaja Yunus. He was suspended along with 14 other cops at that time.
Later, when his application for being reinstated was rejected, he resigned from the police force in November 2007 and joined Shiv Sena in 2008.
As years passed by, in June 2020, he was reinstated in the Mumbai police's CIU.
Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency on March 13 for his alleged role and involvement in the Antilla bomb scare case.
Waze, who was leading the investigation of Mansukh Hiren's death in the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), was arrested days after being transferred to the Citizen Facilitation Centre at the Mumbai Police Headquarters.
Waze was summoned to the NIA office on Saturday to record his statement, in connection with the recovery of explosives from a car parked near Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai.
Later, he was arrested under section 286, 465, 473, 506(2), 120 B of the Indian Penal Code, and 4(a)(b)(I) of the Explosive Substances Act 1908.
A car carrying unassembled explosive materials was found abandoned at Carmichael Road in South Mumbai on February 25, near the house of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
