The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to dismissed police officer Sachin Waze in connection with a corruption case registered by CBI involving former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and others. A bench of Justices Mahesh S Sonak and Jitendra S Jain passed an order on a habeas corpus plea by Waze seeking bail after being incarcerated for over 2 years in the said corruption case. It clarified that the granting of bail was only in connection with corruption case. The bench said that conditions for Waze to be released on bail will be set out by the trial court. Waze’s another habeas corpus plea in connection with Antilia bomb scare case and the death of businessman Mansukh Hiran registered by National Investigation Agency (NIA) is pending before the HC and he has not availed relief in the same as yet. Waze had claimed before Justice Sonak that he had spent over two years in prison for a case where no chargesheet had been filed despite having been granted pardon by the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court as approver and he was a witness in the case. Despite this, his bail pleas were being rejected by the special court while the other accused were let out on bail, the plea argued. Waze, through senior advocate Aabad Ponda, sought to be released under section 167(2) of the CrPC as no chargesheet had been filed against him as an accused. In his handwritten petition, Waze claimed that he had not been named as an accused in the chargesheet, but was named a witness. Despite this, his bail pleas were being rejected by the special court while the other accused were let out on bail, the plea said. The bench permitted Waze to withdraw his plea that challenged the constitutionality of section 306(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and granted liberty to challenge the same in appropriate proceedings and kept the said contentions open. The section deals with granting of pardon to accomplices and sub-section (4) states that the approver may be detained in prison till completion of the trial. In August this year, after an HC bench led by Justice Bharati H Dangre concluded the hearing and reserved its order on Waze’s plea, Justice Dangre recused herself from the matter and said a bench comprising her cannot pass an order in the same. The plea was then placed before the Chief Justice, who assigned it to a bench led by Justice Sonak that passed an order on Tuesday.
