In connection with a 2021 extortion case filed by a hotelier, former policeman Sachin Waze was granted bail on Friday by a special CBI court in Mumbai. Waze had sought bail from the special court in August this year after his initial request was denied by a metropolitan magistrate.
Waze, currently in judicial custody in the Antilia bomb scare and other cases being probed by Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, was placed under arrest in the extortion case in November 2021.
Waze’s bail plea was allowed by special judge S U Hake, informed his lawyer Aarti Kelkar. In his plea filed before the special court, Waze contended he is accused of offences for which the maximum sentence is three years in jail. Since he had completed more than half this term as an undertrial prisoner, the plea said he was entitled for bail under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
CBI opposed the plea and told court the charges invoked against Waze are punishable with imprisonment of upto 10 years. CBI further said Waze has been in judicial custody(in this case) since November 2021. Hence, it is apparent the accused has not undergone detention extending up to half of the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the offence, the CBI submitted.
Based on a charge made by hotelier and civic contractor Bimal Agarwal, Goregaon police had launched a case against Waze, the former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, and others in August 2021.