Waze involved in Hiran murder; will seek his custody: ATS chief

Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a petition filed by former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Maharashtra Home minister Anil Deshmukh whom he has accused of corruption.

The latter, on the other hand, met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday night. The meeting, which lasted for nearly an hour, took place at Thackeray's official residence.

Deshmukh has also been accused by Singh of running an extortion racket with the help of several other cops, including Sachin Waze, the officer arrested in the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare case. They were allegedly given a target of Rs 100 crore per month.

Meanwhile, a two-judge bench of the top court, comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy will take up the plea filed by Singh, who was transferred last week by the Maharashtra government to the Home Guards.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday said Waze was involved in businessman Mansukh Hiran's murder and announced that it will approach the court for seeking his custody.

Waze, arrested in the probe in the recovery of explosives from a car near Ambani's residence in Mumbai last month, has been remanded by a court here in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody till March 25.

"We need his custody and will approach the court," ATS chief Jaijeet Singh said at a press conference here.

Earlier in the day, the ATS said it has seized a high-end car from Daman in connection with the Hiran murder case.

The Volvo car with Maharashtra registration was seized on Monday, an official said, adding there is no clarity on who owned this car.

According to reports, a Mumbai-based lawyer on Tuesday filed a criminal writ petition before the Bombay High Court seeking an investigation by the CBI or any other independent agency against Deshmukh and Singh, along with others in connection with allegations against Deshmukh.

With agency inputs