The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced the transfer of Mumbai police officer Sachin Vaze from the Crime Branch Unit after Vimla Hiren, wife of deceased Mansukh Hiren, alleged that he was linked to her husband’s death.
Hiren’s body was found in the Kalwa creek last week. He was linked to the Scorpio car laden with explosives found outside the house of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The opposition BJP on Tuesday stalled the Assembly proceedings demanding Mr Vaze’s suspension and arrest.
“Police officer Sachin Vaze will be removed from his current posting in the crime branch till the investigation is completed. I am taking this decision in view of the demand raised by the opposition. We will take appropriate action against Vaze if he is involved in the death,” said Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in the State Council.
Speaking to reporters after the budget session, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, “The government is serious about investigation of this case. We have already begun the probe and no one will be spared. However, a new trend these days has begun to target individuals on suspicion and destroy their life. We believe in hanging a person after inquiry and not probing him after hanging.”
Commenting on the papers and CDR displayed by Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis in the Assembly, Mr. Thackeray said that if displaying papers proved guilt then we should scrap the investigation agencies and judiciary.
Mr. Thackeray said the wife and son of Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar, who committed suicide in Mumbai and left a note naming Union Territory administrator Praful K Patel, visited him on Tuesday. “We don’t see everything through political prism. We analyse the facts and proceed. We will do the same in this case as well,” he said.
Mr. Vaze is known as an ‘encounter specialist’ of the Mumbai police. He was suspended for 16 years following his arrest in 2004 in the alleged custodial death of 27-year-old Khwaja Yunus. He was reinstated in June 2020 in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic citing the requirement of officers in the force. Since then he became the go-to man of the Mumbai police in all high-profile cases, including fake social media follower case, raiding hookah parlour and the TRP manipulation case. He also led the Raigad police team to arrest the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, in the case of death of architect Anvay Naik.
