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Under fire over the arrest of Mumbai Police official Sachin Waze in connection with a probe into the recovery of explosives from a car near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence, NCP president on Tuesday backed the state government and said it handled the situation well.
He also discarded speculation that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh would be sacked over the handling of the case.
“This is news to me,” Pawar said on speculation over Deshmukh’s sacking. Deshmukh belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
“We do not believe that (an arrest of a sub-inspector) will impact the state government,” Pawar said.
After the Waze’s episode, Pawar on Monday held meetings with his NCP ministers and state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
When asked how did the state government handle the issue, he said, “The Maharashtra government has handled it well, which is why all got exposed.” He said the investigation in the case was first started by the Maharashtra Police, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) later made arrests.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Mahavikas Aghadi government came under intense criticism after Waze was arrested.
The NIA arrested Waze on late Saturday night in connection with its probe into the recovery of a Scorpio containing 20 gelatin sticks near Ambani’s house ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai on February 25.
Waze, 49, credited with eliminating 63 alleged criminals in ‘encounters’, is also facing heat in the murder case of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the Scorpio. Hiran was found dead in a creek in Thane district on March 5.
Waze, a 1990-batch officer, was earlier suspended in 2004 over his role in the custodial death of a 2002 Ghatkopar blast suspect Khwaja Yunus. Later, he joined the Shiv Sena. However, he was reinstated last year.
