Mumbai: NIA claims to have found crucial diary during raid at suspended API Sachin Waze’s office

NIA and CFSL recreate the scene near Antilia. File pic

During a raid conducted at suspended API Sachin Waze's office at the Mumbai police headquarters, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found a diary that contains detailed entries of funds with some code words. The agency believes that these could be details of the money he and his associates collected from bars, restaurants and other establishments.

Suspended API Sachin Waze being taken to court for a hearing in the Ambani bomb scare case on March 14. File pic

Former police commissioner Param Bir Singh, in his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, has alleged that Waze and Social Service Branch (SSB) ACP Sanjay Patil had been asked to collect funds from restaurants by Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

On Monday, mid-day had reported about how multiple bar owners and members of the hotel association had spoken of being terrorised by Waze in the name of fund collection. Following Waze's arrest, the agency raided his Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) office located on the fourth floor of the police headquarters at Crawford Market on March 16.

During the raids, the agency seized his laptop, mobile phone, other electronic gadgets and some important documents. Sources have confirmed to mid-day that during the raid a diary, too, had been recovered, which has entries of accounts.

An NIA officer confirmed to mid-day that the diary had been found but refused to divulge more details as the investigation was at the preliminary stage. Sources said that the agency might write to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into a possible money-laundering angle in the ongoing probe.

According to sources, Waze was asked to collect funds with the help of the SSB officers and even former CP Singh has made similar allegations. Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had been bypassing him and directly coordinating with junior officers, including Waze. Several bar and restaurant owners also confirmed to mid-day that Waze started the collection drive from November last year.

The NIA has also learnt that Waze stayed at Trident Hotel, Marine Drive, from February 16 to February 20. The agency has collected the CCTV footage from the hotel in which Waze can be seen checking in with two bags. The agency suspects that the bags contained cash. Sources have also confirmed that he stayed at the hotel under the name of Gawade. The NIA team on Monday also visited the hotel to collect some more CCTV footage. They suspect that he was carrying gelatin sticks in one of the large bags. "We visited the hotel and collected some CCTV footage in connection with the investigation," an NIA officer told mid-day. Meanwhile, AHAR president Shivanand Shetty said, "We are not aware of any such extortion activities by the police department as reported in the media. None of our members have approached us about it. We would also like to state that being a responsible industry association, we do not promote or encourage any illegal activities by our members, which may result in adoption of corrupt practices by anyone. We completely condemn such news reports."