Mischief in Mayanagri: How hunters are becoming hunted in Mumbai – India Today

Hours after dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze was sent to the custody of Mumbai Police, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) late Monday night. Anil Deshmukh is facing charges of corruption following allegations levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who incidentally remains untraceable.

Param Bir Singh, in turn, faces charges of extortion. Two non-bailable warrants were issued against him. But the police have failed to trace him. Now, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede too is in hot water.

In the maze of criminal investigation, Mumbai has also witnessed an intense political slugfest, which seems to scale a notch higher by the day. Mayanagri, or the city of glamour as Mumbai is often referred to in popular imagination, continues to see several high-profile names coming under the scanner.

Top names from Maharashtra government, police and investigation agencies have got embroiled in these controversies. From being a hunter to becoming the hunted, how did the tables turn this soon for people like Wankhede, Vaze, Deshmukh and Param Bir Singh?

SACHIN VAZE: ASPIRING SUPER COP WHO WAS SACKED

Sachin Vaze’s is a curious tale in itself. He had been under suspension for 16 years before being reinstated in June 2020. Vaze had been suspended for his alleged role in a custodial death.

His reinstatement led many to point to his alleged connection with ruling political leadership of Maharashtra. His reinstatement saw him getting some high-profile cases such as Badshah fake social media followers case, Television Ratings Point (TRP) scam case and Hrithik Roshan fake e-mail case putting him into limelight.

The Antilia bomb scare case was another in the series. The case refers to discovery of an explosive-laden vehicle outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia in Mumbai on February 25 this year.

Vaze was involved with the investigation into the Antilia bomb scare case, when startling allegations by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis put him under scrutiny.

Fadnavis alleged that Vaze was in frequent touch with Mansukh Hiren, the person whose car was found parked outside Antilia laden with explosives. Later, Hiren’s body was found floating in a river. Hiren’s wife accused Vaze of killing her husband.

In the face of accusations, the Udhav Thackery government took him off the case. After 12-hour questioning, the NIA arrested Vaze in March this year.

According to the NIA chargesheet, Vaze planned the Antilia bomb scare to ‘regain clout’ as an ace detective and encounter specialist. In a nearly 9,000-page chargesheet, Vaze was named as the key conspirator. The chargesheet said Thane resident Mansukh Hiren was murdered on March 4.

The money laundering aspect of the case brought the ED in the ambit of investigation. The ED said Sachin Vaze collected Rs 4.70 crore from orchestra bars in Mumbai between December 2020 and February 2021. The money was allegedly handed over to Anil Deshmukh through his assistant.

PARAM BIR SINGH: FROM TOP COP TO A WANTED MAN

Param Bir Singh was the Mumbai police commissioner when Antilia bomb scare case hit the headlines. He came under the scanner after Sachin Vaze spilled the beans.

Param Bir Singh was shunted out after Sachin Vaze’s arrest. Then Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said Param Bir Singh was transferred after some of his colleagues committed “serious and unforgivable mistakes”.

Later, a businessman identified as Bimal Agarwal filed a complaint against Param Bir Singh and an FIR (first information record) was filed for alleged extortion. This was not the first FIR against Param Bir Singh as four more FIRs were already lodged against him.

In his complaint, Agrawal said Vaze conspired with Singh and his aides threatened him from time to time to pay up if he wanted to run his restrobars without police harassment. The crime branch is probing the allegations of extortion against Param Bir Singh in a case registered at the Goregaon police station.

On October 22, Esplanade Court issued a non-bailable warrant against Param Bir Singh. A second non-bailable warrant was issued on October 31 after he remained untraceable despite repeated summons.

ANIL DESHMUKH: FROM HOME MINISTER TO PRISONER

Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the ED after 12-hour questioning. Anil Deshmukh appeared before the ED on November 1 after skipping multiple summons.

The ED is carrying out an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the alleged Rs 100 crore extortion racket. Deshmukh has consistently denied the allegations.

Anil Deshmukh’s fate took a nosedive after Param Bir Singh was removed as the Mumbai police commissioner by the Maharashtra government in the middle of Antilia bomb scare case. Param Bir Singh accused Anil Deshmukh of asking Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore from hotels and bars in Mumbai every month.

Param Bir Singh’s allegations created a storm in Maharashtra politics hitting the government hard. The matter reached the Bombay High Court, which directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the allegations. Soon after, Anil Deshmukh resigned from the post of Maharashtra home minister.

DESHMUKH, VAZE AND PARAM BIR SINGH: BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER?

After Sachin Vaze was caught in his own trap, Param Bir Singh too got ensnared and passed the buck to Anil Deshmukh. The chain of events started outside Antilia on February 25.

The Antilia bomb scare incident was initially suspected to be a case of terrorism. The matter went to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which found involvement of Sachin Vaze, the cop probing the case.

Allegations and actions subsequently followed the chain of command. The Maharashtra government removed Param Bir Singh from the post of Mumbai police commissioner.

Vaze reported directly to Singh, who allegedly gave him a target of extorting Rs 2 crore every day, according to the Mumbai police’s crime branch, which investigated the matter.

As Param Bir Singh faced the heat, he passed it on to Anil Deshmukh accusing him of asking Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore.

Now, the second part of the story of turning tables.

SAMEER WANKHEDE: CRUSADER OR MASQUERADER?

Not untrained to media glare, Sameer Wankhede made headlines yet again after he led an NCB raid during which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was taken into custody on drugs-related charges.

Wankhede, the NCB zonal director, was in serious controversy last time during the probe into the drugs-related allegations in the aftermath of the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020. Back then, actor Rhea Chakraborty was arrested and spent about four weeks behind the bars.

Wankhede was seen as a crusader who was willing to go to any extent to eradicate drugs abuse. The arrest of Aryan Khan subjected Wankhede and the NCB to extreme public and court scrutiny.

Allegations, many of which levelled by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, started flying against Wankhede. He feared arrest by Maharashtra police and unsuccessfully sought protection from the court. Sameer Wankhede has been accused of procedural irregularities, extortion, and forgery of documents.

From being a crusader against drugs to ‘my apprehension is they will arrest me’, Wankhede’s fortunes turned turtles at a fast pace. An NCB witness, Prabhakar Sail accused that Wankhede was part of the Rs 25 crore pay-off plan conceived allegedly in exchange for Aryan Khan’s release.

Sameer Wankhede approached the Bombay High Court saying, “I am personally attacked by the state. My apprehension is they will arrest me. I want interim protection in the form of no coercive action.”

NEXT ROUND: NAWAB MALIK VERSUS DEVENDRA FADNAVIS?

Nawab Malik, meanwhile, put out details relating to Sameer Wankhede’s religion, marriage and Dalit status in public alleging forgery to secure the government job as an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.

Nawab Malik claimed that Wankhede was a Muslim but applied for the Scheduled Caste quota in the Civil Services Examination 2007 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). To substantiate his claims, Nawab Malik posted a tweet claiming the document as Sameer Wankhede’s Nikah Nama with a photograph with his first wife.

Wankhede refuted the allegations saying his mother was a Muslim while his father was a Dalit Hindu. Further, Wankhede claimed he never converted to Islam. On November 1, Wankhede met National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Chairman Vijay Sampla to present documents to prove his case.

Probe into various alleged crimes has got entangled with the politics of Maharashtra. Devendra Fadnavis and Nawab Malik seem to stretch it beyond Diwali. Fadnavis has alleged that Malik has links to underworld. Malik has retorted saying, ‘those who live in a glasshouse must not throw stones at others’. This pretty much sums up the story of hunter and hunted in the current Maharashtra saga.