New Delhi: Asserting that prosecution sanction is necessary only when an alleged offence is linked to official duty, a Mumbai court Tuesday junked the plea of dismissed police officer Sachin Waze, accused of extorting bar owners to the tune of crores.
The court held that the statements of bar owners and records collected by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) prima facie reflected that Waze abused his official position and acted for personal gain, which can never be considered to be done in discharge of official duty.
A former assistant police inspector with Mumbai Police, Waze was dismissed from service in the wake of his arrest in connection with the recovery of an explosives-laden vehicle near Antilia, the residence of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, in February 2021.
Waze was also named as an accused in the murder of Mansukh Hiren, an automobile parts dealer and registered owner of the car from which explosives were recovered.
ThePrint earlier reported that on Waze’s directions, former Mumbai Police officer Pradeep Sharma, who has more than 300 encounters to his name, allegedly arranged for five men to “get rid of Mansukh” and throw his body into a creek.
Waze, who is currently in custody, had moved court seeking that proceedings be dropped in the money laundering case against him being probed by the ED, for lack of jurisdiction and mandatory prosecution sanction from the state government.
However, special judge Mahesh Jadhav observed in his order that “it is a settled legal principle that Section 196 of CrPC (referring to prosecution sanction) only comes into play when the act complained of is directly and reasonably connected with the discharge of official duty and not when the act constitutes a dereliction, abuse, or misuse of official position for personal benefits or the benefit of his good wisher”.
The ED’s money laundering probe stems from a CBI FIR filed on the basis of disclosures by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who alleged that then state home minister Anil Deshmukh instructed certain Mumbai police officers, including Waze, to collect Rs 100 crore every month from Mumbai’s restaurants and bars.
According to the ED, Sachin Waze collected “good luck money” from bar owners in the city on behalf of Deshmukh. The agency calculates, based on witness statements, including those of bar owners, that Waze collected funds totalling Rs 4.70 crore between December 2020 and February 2021.
Judge Jadhav observed that in the particular case, Waze prima facie was involved in the act of “illegal demand, extortion, collection and handling of unlawful money,” which are “extremely outside of the scope of official duty”.
“The statement of witnesses i.e. the bar owners and the records as well as admission given by the applicant in the present application itself prima facie reflect that the applicant acted for personal gain. He has committed the act in abuse of authority which can never be considered to be an act done while acting or purporting to act in discharge of an official duty,” the judge stated.
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Chain of events
The charges against Sachin Waze go back to the recovery of 20 gelatin sticks in an abandoned Scorpio car near Mukesh Ambani’s residence in Mumbai. The gelatin sticks were found in a blue backpack bearing the logo ‘Mumbai Indians IPL’, along with a purported threat note addressed to Ambani and his wife Nita, who co-owns the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.
Investigating the case, Mumbai Police found that the owner of the car, Mansukh Hiren, had already filed a complaint regarding the theft of his vehicle.
Hiren was summoned by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, where Waze was posted at the time, and went missing a day after appearing before the investigating officer.
Mumbai Police recovered Hiren’s body from a creek weeks later, on 5 March, 2021.
As the case progressed and Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency, the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government shunted commissioner Singh who in a letter to then CM Uddhav Thackeray purportedly levelled allegations of extortion against Deshmukh.
Later, Singh filed a criminal public interest litigation before the Bombay High Court, which ordered the CBI to open a preliminary inquiry into the matter.
The ED took cognisance of the CBI’s FIR and initiated a money laundering probe, following which both Deshmukh and Sachin Waze were arrested. While Deshmukh was granted bail by the high court in December 2022, Waze remains in custody in the NIA case.
In the order passed Tuesday, judge Jadhav observed that Waze’s own plea suggested that his suspension from service was revoked at the insistence of co-accused Deshmukh.
The judge further stated that both Waze’s own admissions and statements by bar owners, prima facie, establish that he held meetings with various bar owners and urged them to pay Rs 3 lakh per month in exchange for no interruptions in the business.
“He himself admitted that he became approver in another case wherein he admits guilt that he has collected money from bar owners, has held meetings of bar owners, he handed over the amount to the co-accused, then home minister Anil Deshmukh. Though he has submitted that he is not a beneficiary, whether he is beneficiary or not is a question to be dealt during the trial and not at this interim stage,” the order stated.
“The responsible police officer is expected to act within the ambit of the law and not on the instruction of home minister to do illegal activities. He is not a layman. As argued on behalf of the prosecution, he crossed limits. Admittedly, extorting money, involving in the generating of illegal money, and to possess illegal money itself amounts to an illegal act, which cannot come within the purview of official act,” it added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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