Sachin Vaze's remand plea accessed, Mumbai Police to investigate Param Bir's whereabouts

A Mumbai court on Saturday extended the police custody of suspended API Sachin Vaze till November 13. In its argument before the court, the Mumbai Police listed down several reasons for Vaze's remand stating that it needed to investigate the extent of the extortion racket, and the whereabouts of absconding accused, former Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh. 

According to Sachin Vaze's remand application, as accessed by Republic TV, the Mumbai Police has stated that apart from the complainant, it was necessary to investigate who all Vaze extorted money from for Param Bir Singh. It mentioned that there was a need to look into who all helped Vaze in the extortion racket and to whom all he distributed the extorted money. The remand plea also noted that Vaze has given a document in writing and is ready to co-operate with the investigation. He wants to come clean, which is why he doesn’t mind being interrogated further, it stated.

A major point of his custody was to also look into the whereabouts of Param Bir Singh. Vaze is very close to Param Bir, so the investigating agency wants to find out where Singh is, the Mumbai Police stated. Moreover, the money and gift that were extorted from Bimal Agrawal haven’t been recovered yet, and the angle of the BMC contractor is yet to be examined owing to which the police needed his further custody, the plea stated.

Here are some of the main reasons for remand listed by the Mumbai Police:

• 1 - Need to investigate if Sachin Vaze has extorted money from anybody else other than the complainant on behalf of Param Bir Singh. If yes, the amount involved.
• 2 - Need to recover the amount that Vaze has extorted from the complainant and witnesses.
• 3. Need to investigate who else was involved in the extortion racket.
• 4 - Need to investigate how the extortion amount was used. 
• 5- Need to investigate how much of the extorted money was given to other 'wanted accused'.
• 6- Vaze on behalf of 'Number 1' accused Param Bir Singh intimidated a bookie and extorted a huge amount of money. This needs to be investigated with the arrested accused. 
• 7- Need to investigate how many such extortions were carried out by arrested accused (Vaze) and wanted accused (Param Bir).
• 8 - Vaze hasn't given information on how he met other wanted accused. Need to interrogate him on that.
• 9-  Arrested accused is close to wanted accused Param Bir Singh. Need to interrogate him on Param Bir's whereabouts.

Goregaon extortion case

Goregaon Police had registered a case against Sachin Vaze, Param Bir Singh and some locals for extortion. This surfaced after a hotelier, Bimal Agarwal, alleged that the accused extorted money from him and threatened to file cases against him and his restaurant and bar. The hotelier claimed that he had paid Rs 9 lakh in cash and given two Samsung Fold-2 phones worth Rs 2,12,000 to then Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh through Sachin Vaze. In another allegation, Agarwal claimed that the two used to extort money from other establishments and bookies in Mumbai.

Image: PTI, ANI, Representative