Dismissed Mumbai assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, an accused in the £10 mn extortion case involving former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, has claimed that the NCP (SP) leader collected the money through his personal assistant.
Waze claimed NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil was also involved in the extortion case, and he had submitted evidence to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
"Whatever has happened, the proof is there. The money used to go through his (Anil Deshmukh) PA. The CBI has the proof and I have also written a letter to Devendra Fadnavis. I have submitted all the evidence. I am ready for NARCO test. In the letter that I have written, I have given the name of Jayant Patil as well," Waze said.
Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the CBI in 2022 after the then Mumbai Police Commissioner accused him of directing police officers to collect money from hotel and bar owners across the city. He resigned as Home Minister and was in judicial custody for over a year before being granted bail by the Bombay High Court.
Dismissing the allegations, Deshmukh said someone with a "criminal background" cannot be believed and claimed that "Waze says what Devendra Fadnavis tells him". Waze is also an accused in the 2021 bomb scare case near Mukesh Ambani's residence in Mumbai and the murder of a businessman Mansukh Hiran. He is currently lodged in Taloja central jail in Navi Mumbai.
"A few days back, I had levelled allegations against Fadnavis about how he had, three years back, given a proposal to me to implicate Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray," Deshmukh said at a press conference.
"Now, this is a new tactic by Devendra Fadnavis. He is using Sachin Waze. The High Court had said Sachin Waze is a man with a criminal background... Such a man can't be believed," the NCP (SP) leader said.
Hitting back at Deshmukh, BJP MLA Ram Kadam said Fadnavis's allegations proved to be true, and the people would teach a lesson to the Maha Vikas Aghadi parties in the Assembly polls.
"The extortionists - Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar - who got votes in the Lok Sabha polls by spreading false rumours, will be taught a lesson by the people in the Assembly polls," Kadam said.
