Hiran death case: Vaze transferred to CFC

Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze, who has been facing heat in the Mansukh Hiran death case, has been transferred from the Mumbai crime branch to the city police's citizen facilitation centre unit.

Vaze, who was accused by Hiran's wife of involvement in her husband's suspicious death, was shunted out of the Mumbai crime branch on Wednesday.

The citizen facilitation centre handles police clearance for passports, various licences and other public-related services.

On February 25, a Scorpio was found near businessman Mukesh Ambani's home in south Mumbai with explosives and a threat letter inside.

Hiran, who owned the SUV, had filed a police complaint that it had been stolen a week earlier, but the case got murky when he was found dead in a creek in Thane on March 5.

Hiran's wife alleged that her husband had given the SUV to Vaze in November, which the police officer returned in the first week of February.

The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad, which is probing the case, recorded Vaze's statement earlier this week, in which he has denied using the SUV that was in Hiran's possession.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday informed the state legislative council about Vaze's removal from the crime branch till the inquiry into Hiran's mysterious death was concluded.

Vaze, who was involved in around 63 police 'encounters', was suspended from the Mumbai police in 2004 for the alleged custodial death of Khwaja Yunus.

Reinstated in service in June 2020, he was handling several high-profile cases, including the TRP rigging scam, fake social media followers case and a car scam involving Dilip Chhabria.