Dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze was sent to further Mumbai Police custody till November 13 in connection with Goregaon extortion case. Vaze was produced before the Esplanade Magistrate court on Saturday.

His counsel, Raunak Naik, informed the court that Vaze conceded to being in Mumbai Police’s custody for seven days.

The special public prosecutor also filed another application to record the statement of a witness before Monday.

Earlier, the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch had sought custody of Sachin Vaze for a minimum of ten days to investigate the extortion case registered at Goregaon Police station.

The Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch had earlier arrested Sumit alias Chintu Singh and Alpesh Patel in the exortion case. According to the crime branch, Alpesh was collecting money on the orders of Sachin Waze from various businessmen.

Special Public Prosecutor Shekhar Jagtap said that Sachin Vaze had played a vital role as after 17 years of suspension in an alleged custodial death case he was reinstated on the orders of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. “He used to indulge in various extortion activities, threaten various businessmen with cases if they did not pay the extortion amount. He even threatened his own colleagues. The NIA case registered against him if also of extortion only,” Jagtap said.

WHO IS SACHIN VAZE?

Sachin Vaze was arrested in March this year in the Antilia bomb scare case where an SUV with explosives was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s south Mumbai residence. He was earlier lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail.

Sachin Vaze, the 49-year-old assistant police inspector, was dismissed from service after his arrest in the Antilia bomb scare case and the subsequent murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren.

While probing the extortion case, the Mumbai Crime Branch had sought Sachin Vaze’s custody from the special court, arguing that it was necessary for further probe into the offence. Considering that Sachin Vaze recently underwent a bypass surgery, the court asked for a report about his health condition and directed the jail authorities to hand his custody to Mumbai Police on November 1 after finding that he was fit to travel for a few days.

The extortion case had been registered against Sachin Vaze, Param Bir Singh and others on a complaint of builder-cum-hotelier Bimal Agrawal. Others who have been named accused in the case are Sumit Singh alias Chintu, Alpesh Patel, Vinay Singh alias Babloo and Riyaz Bhati.