Dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Vaze has filed a plea in the Bombay High Court seeking house arrest temporarily till he recovers after his bypass surgery that was conducted recently, reported Live Law.
Vaze is one of the 14 accused persons in the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare case.
An SUV with 20 gelatin sticks was found on February 25 near the the industrialist’s home in Mumbai. The police had said that the car was stolen from the city’s Airoli-Mulund Bridge on February 18. The car’s owner, Mansukh Hiren, an auto parts dealer, was found dead on March 5 in Kalwa creek.
At Wednesday’s hearing, a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal gave the National Investigation Agency a week’s time to file a reply to Vaze’s petition. On September 29, a special NIA court had rejected the former police officer’s plea seeking house arrest. He was then moved to the Taloja jail for a month.
The court had allowed home-cooked food to be provided to Vaze and said that he could be shifted to Mumbai’s JJ Hospital if needed.
In his plea before the Bombay High Court, Vaze said that he wanted to be under house arrest so that he can recover in a safe, sterile and stress-free environment, reported Bar and Bench.
The plea argued that he should not be sent back to Taloja, where he would not be able to get post-operative care or be exposed to more infections.
Vaze also highlighted the conditions in prison hospitals, which he said were so poor that he would be at high risk of contracting infections, according to Bar and Bench.
The case
The NIA arrested Vaze on March 13 and he was dismissed from service in May.
In the chargesheet filed before a special court in Mumbai, the NIA said Vaze was involved in the conspiracy to regain his lost reputation.
In 2004, he was suspended for 17 years after being arrested for the custodial death of 27-year-old software engineer Khwaja Yunus. Known as an “encounter specialist” in the Mumbai Police, Vaze was later granted bail after 58 days in custody. He was reinstated by the Mumbai Police in June 2020.
The over 10,000-page chargesheet filed by the investigating agency said Vaze had himself parked the car outside Ambani’s home, adding that Hiren was later killed by hired assassins.
Vaze has also accused former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of asking him to extort over 100 crores from owners of bars and restaurants, according to a statement the suspended police officer had submitted to a special NIA court in April.
The NIA has cited the statements of 178 witnesses in the case and booked other arrested accused in the case under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosive Substances Act and Arms Act.
Those arrested in the case are Vinayak Shinde, Naresh Gor, Riyazuddin Kazi, Sunil Mane, Anand Jadhav, Satish Mothkuri, Manish Soni and Santosh Shelar. Shinde, Kazi and Mane are former police officers.
Also read:
Ambani bomb scare: Sachin Vaze wanted to ‘reclaim his clout as ace detective’, says NIA chargesheet
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