Ex-Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waze seeks to turn approver in Khwaja Yunus custodial death case

Sachin Waze. Pic/Twitter

Dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze has submitted a plea to a Mumbai court expressing his desire to become an approver in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case. Waze, along with three other policemen, is currently facing trial for their alleged involvement in the 2003 incident.

In a handwritten application presented before Additional Sessions Judge Sachin Pawar, Waze asserted that he had never been arrested in connection with the case, newswire PTI reported. He emphasized that the prosecution has not implicated him in the alleged murder, and crucially, the body of Khwaja Yunus has not been identified.

Waze prayed the court to record his statement wherein he has agreed to make full and true disclosure of the facts of the case. "I have been suffering because of the pendency of this matter for the last 20 years. This is not only abuse of the process of law, but it has been harming my livelihood, reputation and status in society," his plea said.

He stated that the crucial aspect of this case is pending before the Supreme Court and its outcome is unlikely in the near future. It does not seem like the trial would resume in the near future, and the end of this trial would take some years, the plea said. "The agony I am facing would be endless," he said.

"I have decided to stick to my conscience and wish to make a full and true disclosure within my knowledge relating to the offence," Waze said.

Yunus, a software engineer, was detained soon after the December 2002 bomb blast in the suburb of Ghatkopar.

He allegedly escaped from custody in the intervening night of January 6-7, 2003, while being escorted to Aurangabad for further investigation in the blast case, when the police vehicle carrying him met with an accident in Ahmednagar district.

Subsequently, the state's Crime Investigation Department (CID) registered an FIR against police officers for allegedly killing Yunus in custody and then destroying evidence.

The CID inquiry had at the time indicted 14 policemen, but the government granted the sanction to prosecute only four ¿ Waze, Rajendra Tiwari, Rajaram Nikam and Sunil Desai.

They are currently facing trial in the case on the charges of murder, fabricating evidence and hatching a criminal conspiracy.

Waze, who served as an assistant police inspector, is currently in jail in the Antilia bomb scare case. (With inputs from PTI)