Mumbai court extends Sachin Waze's police custody till 13 November in extortion case

Mumbai: A court here on Saturday extended till 13 November the police custody of dismissed assistant police inspector (API) Sachin Waze in an extortion case registered against him at the Goregaon police station in the city. The Mumbai Police’s crime branch had taken Waze’s custody on 1 November based on the complaint filed by builder-cum-hotelier Bimal Agrawal, in which former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh is also an accused. Waze was produced before a holiday court on Saturday as his remand expired. Police sought an extension of his custody for seven days for further probe, which was allowed by the court till 13 November. Waze was in judicial custody after his arrest in March by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the ‘Antilia’ bomb scare and businessman Mansukh Hiran murder case. Agrawal had alleged that the accused extorted Rs 9 lakh from him for not conducting a raid on two bars and restaurants, which he ran in partnership, and also forced him to buy two smartphones worth around Rs 2.92 lakh for them. The alleged incident occurred between January 2020 and March 2021, police had said. Accordingly, the case was filed under Indian Penal Code sections 384 and 385 (both pertaining to extortion) and 34 (common intention) against the six accused.