Money laundering case: Court grants bail to dismissed Sachin Waze

MUMBAI: A sessions court in Mumbai on Friday granted bail to dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waze in an alleged money laundering case linked to former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh.

However, Waze despite being granted bail will remain in jail as he is in judicial custody in other cases including the bomb scare incident near the house of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and the subsequent murder of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran.

Back in May this year, the Enforcement Directorate had allowed dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waze to become an approver in the money laundering case involving Deshmukh.

Waze had filed a petition in the special PMLA court on May 25 to become an approver, to which the ED filed its reply and allowed him to turn approver. Waze has also been approved by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for becoming a witness in another case of corruption involving Deshmukh.

NIA arrested Waze in March in connection with the investigation into the recovery of explosives from a car parked near Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai. Waze is the prime accused of placing an explosives-laden vehicle near Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani's house Antilia in Mumbai on February 25.

Deshmukh was arrested on November 1 in connection with extortion and money laundering allegations levelled against him by the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. In a letter to CM Thackeray in March last year, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh was involved in several wrongdoings, including asking Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants in Mum