Maha Vikas Aghadi’s money collector: Letter from ex-cop Sachin Vaze sends shockwaves

In more trouble for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government (MVA) in Maharashtra which is now being called the “Maha Vasooli” government, former Mumbai Police Crime Branch officer Sachin Vaze has accused former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Transport Minister Anil Parab of putting pressure on him to extort money from the contractors of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), illegal tobacco factories and bars in the city.

Vaze’s letter, which is now out in the open, has sent shockwaves not only within the Nationalist Congress Party-Congress-Shiv Sena government but also the entire country.

However, senior officials of the NIA remained tightlipped on the authenticity of Vaze’s letter.

In a handwritten letter to the Special NIA Court dated 3 April, Vaze claimed that NCP chief Sharad Pawar was against his reinstatement into Mumbai Police in 2020 after having been suspended for 16 years.

In the letter, Vaze, who was previously the chief of Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), said that Deshmukh had asked him to collect ₹3-3.5 lakh each from 1,650 bars and restaurants in Mumbai but he had refused.

Vaze also claimed that Maharashtra Transport Minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab had asked him to extort money for him, and he had met the Minister at his official bungalow where Parab asked him to initiate primary talks to get ₹50 crore from Saifee Burhani Upliftment (SBUT) to close an enquiry. Vaze in his letter also mentions how Parab told him to collect ₹2 crore from contractors listed with the BMC.

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