“If you are protecting Waze and don’t arrest him, we are suspicious of you. Is the Interior Minister protecting a criminal because he belongs to a political party? asked Fadnavis. Waze had joined the Shiv Sena in 2008 when he was suspended from the police force. Fadnavis demanded that even when the murder investigation was underway, Waze should be arrested for destroying evidence.
Deshmukh responded by accusing Fadnavis of sinking the investigation into Anvay Naik’s suicide case to protect Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami. “His wife and daughter met me and we started the investigation. Why did you spoil it? We will investigate this, ”he said.
Amid BJP slogans, Fadnavis challenged Deshmukh to probe him. “It is my open challenge to the Minister of the Interior to initiate an investigation against me. These threats will not save Sachin Waze, ”said Fadnavis. The assembly had to be postponed repeatedly with the BJP MLA shouting: “This government is a murderer.”
Speaking at the state assembly, Fadnavis said that in her statement to police, Hiran’s wife, Vimla, had said that she suspected Waze’s hand in the murder of her husband. She had said that Waze was known to her husband and that he had taken one of their cars in November 2020 and kept it for four months.
After Hiran’s Scorpio was found outside the Ambani residence, Waze accompanied him to police interrogations. “He says it was Waze who wrote a letter saying that Hiran was being harassed by the police,” Fadnavis said. Fadnavis said Waze was demanding that Hiran be arrested. “Her husband told her that Waze asked him to arrest him and that he would be released on bail in a few days. He said they should get advice from lawyers, ”he said. She said her husband’s brother later spoke with a lawyer who advised against such a move.
Fadnavis also said Hiren’s last known location was near Dhananjay Vithal Gawde. “Gawde and Waze had requested advance bail in a 2017 extortion case of Rs 40 lakh,” Fadnavis said. Gawde is a former Sena corporation who was later expelled from the party.
“Why was your last location in that place? I suspect that he was killed in a car and his body was dumped in a stream. It was discovered because there was low tide, ”said Fadnavis. He also asked why Waze had been reinstated when there was a case against him in court and said that, as head of the intelligence unit in the criminal branch, he could destroy the evidence in the case. In response to the charges in the assembly, Deshmukh said: “This case is being investigated by the Anti-Terror Squad in an impartial manner. If Fadnavis has any proof, he should give it to ATS. The state will not protect anyone ”. He added that Waze was not in the ATS and that the probe would be neutral.
The Sena MLA alleged that Fadnavis was targeting Waze while handling the Anvay Naik case. “Fadnavis is angry that Waze was part of the team that arrested Arnab Goswami. He is taking his anger out on him, ”Seine Minister Anil Parab said outside the assembly. At the assembly, Sena MLA Bhaskar Jadhav also said: “Waze was investigating the Anvay Naik case.”
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