Mumbai, Apr 7 (IANS): Controversial suspended police officer Sachin Vaze was apparently a privileged and blue-eyed boy of then Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh, as per a report submitted by present Commissioner of Police Hemant Nagrale to the Maharashtra Home Department on the circumstances leading to his reinstatement.

It details Assistant Police Inspector (API) Vaze's nine-month long tenure in the elite Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of Mumbai Police's Crime Branch and categorically says he was reinstated by Singh in June 2020, after a decision of the Police Establishment Board, despite opposition from top police officers then.

Two Police Inspectors - Sudhakar Deshmukh and Vinay Ghorpade - were transferred to Units 01 and 10, ostensibly to make way for Vaze, who was of a lower API rank, but was posted as in charge of the CIU.

"As per the information given on telephone, the then Jt CP (Crime) had strongly opposed for posting of Sachin Vaze. But at the insistence of the then CoP (Singh), the then Jt CP (Crime) unwillingly issued the office order for posting of Vaze at CIU," says the damning report.

Earlier, after his suspension period ended on June 5, 2020, Vaze was reinstated and posted in a non-executive post in the armed police force on June 8, 2020, but barely a couple of days later, he landed the plum appointment at the CIU.

In March, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Vaze for his alleged role in the planting of a SUV with 20 gelatin sticks and a threat note near the home of industrialist Mukesh Ambani's on February 25, followed by the mystery death of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran on March 5.

After these cases erupted, Singh was shunted out and posted as the Commandant General, Home Guards, following which he shot off a "letter-bomb" targeting then Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who quit after the Bombay High Court ordered a preliminary probe by the CBI into Singh's allegations.