‘He’s Not Osama Bin Laden’: CM Thackeray on Transferred Mumbai Cop

“It is not right to target a person and hang him and then investigate. Let the probe be over,” the CM said on Vaze.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.

(Photo: Edited by Erum Gour/The Quint)

Speaking to reporters after the Budget Session, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, 10 March, said Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze should not be targeted until the investigation is over.

Thackeray said, "Sachin Vaze is not Osama Bin Laden. It is not right to target a person and hang him and then investigate. Let the probe be over. The guilty, whoever they are, will not be spared," reported news agency PTI.

Mumbai top cop Sachin Vaze, who has been caught in controversy ever since he took over the probe of the case regarding explosives outside Mukesh Ambani’s house, was transferred after furore in Maharashtra over his alleged association with Mansukh Hiren, the owner of the Scorpio that was used to carry out the bomb scare.

Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced the transfer in the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday adding that Vaze is being removed from the Crime Branch so that an impartial investigation can be carried out.

The Devendra Fadnavis-led Opposition in the state has been demanding Vaze’s immediate suspension and arrest on the basis of an FIR filed by Hiren’s family on 7 March. The family accused Vaze of Hiren’s murder, after he was named as one of the suspects in the Ambani bomb scare case and was found dead last week.

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Vimala, wife of Mansukh Hiren, has alleged that Vaze was involved in the alleged conspiracy to frame her husband and has allegedly murdered him. She also detailed Vaze’s association with Hiren, adding that the police officer was in possession of the car for four months.

Thackeray was questioned about Vaze’s involvement with the Shiv Sena, and the chief minister answered that Vaze had been a party member in 2008, and had not renewed his membership, added the report.

The Maharashtra government has ordered the Call Detail Record (CDR) in the Hiren case, which is in Fadnavis’ possession, Thackeray added.

Vaze has worked on several high-profile cases including overseeing the TRP scam case related to journalist Arnab Goswami and the case of abetment of suicide of Anvay Naik and his mother, in which Goswami is a prime accused. Vaze led the team that had arrested Goswami from his residence recently, before he was released on bail.

(With inputs from PTI)