On Wednesday, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that Sachin Vaze, a senior officer of Mumbai Police Crime Branch and ‘encounter specialist’, will be removed from his position till the investigation into the death of automobile parts dealer, Mansukh Hiren was completed.
Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha, Deshmukh said the move was taken so that an impartial investigation could be done in the Mansukh Hiren death case, the owner of the car found outside Mukesh Ambani’s resident filled with explosives. Vaze was the investigating officer in the case before Assistant Commissioner of Police Nitin Alakhnure replaced him.
“Sachin Vaze will be removed from the Crime Branch and posted in some other department,” Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said in the state’s Legislative Council on Wednesday, sources reported. “It is being done so that an impartial investigation can be conducted in Mansukh Hiren’s death case,” he added.
According to the sources, the move to transfer Sachin Vaze to a different department was taken, days after the former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis read a statement given by Vimla Hiren, the wife of Mansukh Hiren, in the Maharashtra assembly, wherein she had suspected that Sachin Vaze had killed her husband.
Hiren’s wife further alleged that Sachin Vaze had used the Scorpio car for several months, from November 2020 till February 5. She also added that Vaze had told her husband to get arrested in the case, and had assured him that he will be bailed out in a few days.
The car was owned by Mansukh Hiren, who had alleged that his car was stolen from Mulund-Airoli link road. Hiren had also filed a police complaint about the missing car. However, later Hiren was found dead in a creek in Mumbai last week.
“The person who had lodged a missing complaint of the car that was found outside Ambani’s house had made some calls to a number and had received phone calls from that number. When investigated, the number was found to be registered to Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze. The first conversation between the two took place on June 8. The records show another call was made on July 24. Similarly, many such calls have taken place between the two over the last several months,” Fadnavis had said.
Further, adding fuel to the mystery, Fadnavis added, “Sachin Vaze was the first police officer to reach the spot, and then he was appointed as the Investigation Officer (IO). Three days ago, he was removed as the IO and I fail to understand why he was removed.” He asked how Vaze reached the spot before the local police.
