Days after Hemant Nagrale took charge as the new Commissioner of Police from Param Bir Singh, he has ordered the transfer of 84 police officers in Mumbai Police, which includes 65 officers from the elite Crime Branch. This, however, comes in the backdrop of the NIA conducting the investigation in the Sachin Vaze case and even the timing of the transfer of the police officers further puts the Uddhav Thackeray government in question.
In the list of the transferred police officers, two officers from the CIU of Crime Branch also find a mention. It is pertinent to note that that the CIU was headed by suspended API and former Shiv Sena leader Sachin Vaze. Even the two officers — API Prakash Howal and API Riyazuddin Kazi now demoted by Nagrale, were questioned by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case.
The list of transfers is dominated by police officers from the Crime Branch who are known to have worked on high-profile cases in the past decade. A question that arises here is that, is the Uddhav Thackeray government scaring Maharashtra policemen into silence, fearing the ongoing investigation by the NIA?
Recently, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote a sensational letter to Uddhav Thackeray where he accused Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of running a large scale extortion racket through API Sachin Vaze. This was followed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) advocating for Singh’s allegations as they recounted horror tales of extortion mafia allegedly run by Vaze and co, as per a report by Mid-Day.
According to the publication, Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze had allegedly started collecting money two months before Anil Deshmukh made the alleged demands. In fact, it was well-oiled machinery with establishments being divided into three categories to derive their amounts.
It is being alleged that Assistant Police Inspector Vaze had listed bars into three categories: A, B and C. While speaking to Mid-Day, a bar owner said, “The A category was supposed to shell out Rs 2 lakh a month, B had to pay Rs 1.5 lakh while C had to pay Rs 1 lakh.” The owner added, “Waze must have needed the machine to count the cash he collected.”
It is pertinent to note that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier seized a currency-counting machine and over Rs 5 lakh cash from a Mercedes which was used by Vaze.
According to the report, as soon as the business limped back to normalcy post the lockdown, hafta collections resumed according to various restaurant and bar owners. This is in line with Singh’s letter, according to which, Vaze used to collect money from various establishments by threatening the owners with impending raids.
However, the transfer of 84 police officers in Mumbai Police soon after Hemant Nagrale took charge as the new Commissioner of Police seems to be a desperate move of the Uddhav government amid the NIA investigation of the Sachin Vaze case, to scare them into maintaining silence.