The Mumbai Police told a court here on Saturday that disgraced cop Sachin Waze extorted significant sums of money from cricket bookies on the orders of former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who is now an absconding suspect in an extortion case.
Following a petition by Waze’s lawyer Rounak Naik that he was willing to concede and be brought to police custody in order to participate with the investigation, the magistrate’s court ordered him to be held in police custody until November 13.
Waze was arrested earlier this week in connection with an extortion case filed by a restaurant-bar owner in Goregaon, and the police presented their latest claim in his remand appeal. The duo would threaten the bookies with FIRs to collect money, according to the remand petition filed by special public prosecutor Shekhar Jagtap.
Waze, who was already suspected of being involved in the terror scare at the Ambani mansion, was detained by Mumbai police on November 1 and held in custody until Saturday.
Waze was accused of extorting money from bar owners at Singh’s request. Last month, the court issued a non-bailable warrant against the former commissioner, naming him as the case’s first sought defendant.
Police told the court on Saturday that they wanted to look into if Waze extorted money from anyone else on Singh’s orders. The authorities also sought to look into Singh’s present movements because Waze was close to him, according to the report. The police said they intended to look into how the extortion money was dispersed as well as where and when “conspiracy meetings” were held. They also stated that police would investigate claims of money extortion from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) contractors.
“When questioned about the extortion money, the accused (Waze) gives evasive responses and refuses to cooperate with the investigation,” according to the police remand plea.
Waze consented to give his voice sample, which was forwarded for forensic examination, according to the plea. In this case, the complainant has provided recordings of WhatsApp calls purportedly related to the crime. A sample of the complainant’s voice has also been taken. In addition, the police have confiscated one of the two phones allegedly used by Waze in the crime.
A co-accused, Alpesh Patel, has been apprehended in Gujarat, according to the court. In this case, the police have said that Patel destroyed a phone and a SIM card involved in the crime, invoking section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with evidence destruction.
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