MUMBAI: A special court here on Tuesday rejected dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze's plea seeking default bail in a corruption case against him being probed by the CBI. Special CBI judge SH Galwani denied the plea filed by Waze, in which he claimed that he was entitled to default bail, as no chargesheet had been filed against him in the case.
Waze, in his plea filed through advocate Raunak Naik, said no final report has been filed against him and hence, he is entitled to default bail under relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The probe agency had last month filed a chargesheet in the case, which also involves former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh and his aides Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde.
In February, the CBI had formally arrested Waze, though he has not been named in the chargesheet. The special CBI court had recently accepted the dismissed policeman's plea to turn approver and seek pardon in the corruption case.
Waze was arrested in March last year for his alleged role in the planting of explosives near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's south Mumbai residence and in the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran. He is currently in judicial custody.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh had, in March last year, accused Deshmukh, the then state home minister, of giving targets to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in the metropolis.
The CBI had lodged an FIR against Deshmukh, Waze and others following an order of the Bombay High Court, after which the NCP leader resigned from the state cabinet. Besides the Antilia bomb scare and the corruption case, Waze is also an accused in a money laundering case being probed by the ED.
He has also written to the central agency stating that he wants to turn approver in the case.