The Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze Saturday put out a series of WhatsApp stories saying the “time to say goodbye to the world is coming closer”. Vaze, an assistant police inspector, is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Mumbai ATS in connection with the death of Mansukh Hiran, whose Scorpio was found abandoned with explosives outside Antilia, the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani.In the Whatsapp stories, Vaze has said that he was being “falsely trapped”. “3rdMarch 2004, fellow officers from the CID arrested me in a false case. That arrest is inconclusive till date,” the Whatsapp story states. “Sensing the history is going to repeat. My fellow officers are on to falsely trap me (sic).”“There’s a slight difference in the scenario. Then probably I had 17 years of hope, patience, life and service too,” he has added. “Now I will have neither 17-years of further life nor service nor patience to live. I think the time to say goodbye to the world is coming closer.” On 3 March, 2004, Vaze was suspended along with 14 other policemen, and was charged with murder over the alleged custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, a suspect in the 2 December 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case.
He subsequently resigned from the police on 30 November 2007, after requests for his reinstatement were rejected by the then Maharashtra government. His suspension was revoked and he was reinstated to Mumbai Police on 6 June 2020, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown due to shortage of police staff. Vaze, now serving in the Crime Intelligence Unit, was the investigative officer (IO) probing how the explosives-laden Scorpio that had 20 gelatin sticks and a threat note reached Ambani’s residence Antilia in Mumbai on 25 February. He was, however, replaced by another officer as the IO without any formal explanation. Vaze is also being probed for the alleged murder of Mansukh Hiran, owner of the Scorpio whose body was found inside Mumbai Creek on 5 March. Hiran’s wife has told the Mumbai Police that she “strongly suspects Vaze’s involvement” in her husband’s death.On 10 March, Vaze was also removed from the Crime Branch, after Hiran’s wife alleged that the Scorpio was in fact in the officer’s possession for three months and that he had returned it to Hiran on 5 February, complaining of a “stiff steering”.