‘I don’t want to become Stan Swamy,’ Sachin Vaze said before the special NIA court in Mumbai transferred him to a private hospital in Thane for treatment. The court also turned down the application of NIA for remand of Vaze and co-accused Sunil Mane.
Vaze was alluding to Father Stan Swamy (84), who died in hospital last month after being imprisoned in Taloja over the Elgar Parishad matter. Swamy’s request for medical bail was denied by the NIA court and he was finally sent for treatment only by the Bombay high court.
NIA was seeking a two-day custody order for Sachin Vaze and five-day custody order for Mane. Sunil Gonsalves, a special public prosecutor, stated that Vaze had been under investigation for 28 days while Mane had been under inquiry for 14 days.
‘Most important reason for requiring custody was that certain incriminating material found against a suspected person who has a key role. We will not be able to come to an ultimate conclusion. We are in the final leg of the investigation. So we need their custody. The incriminating material has been found with those five persons who were arrested in June. March to August, innumerable statements have been recorded and the accused need to be confronted with them. Large amounts of cash and bank statements have taken place. So we need to track its origin and a reverse trail has to be done,’ argued Gonsalves.
Vaze’s lawyer, Sudip Pasbola, questioned the timeliness of the NIA’s remand request, saying: ‘We filed an application for health issues. The court was indulgent and Vaze was allowed a doctor’s visit where the doctor has advised immediate bypass surgery.’
Vaze had submitted the application requesting medical help since he was suffering from serious health problems as a result of a blockage of major arteries in his heart. Doctors at JJ Hospital, where he was referred after the court order, told him that he needed to be admitted right away for bypass surgery. Vaze, on the other hand, had refused to enter the government facilities. His application requested admission to a Thane-based private hospital.
Advocate Sudip Pasbola stated: ‘No doubt the law provides for NIA to take remand of an accused, but there are other aspects. An affidavit is filed stating two things. The report must indicate the reasons for doing this, whereas the affidavit of NIA is vague, abstract and does not state, in terms, about reasons. Also, the affidavit is silent on the delay aspect. You [NIA] are entitled to remand at the first stage but not at this stage. The delay has to be explained. The affidavit does not even whisper when, how and under whose investigation the incriminating material was found. If the recovery of cash and bank statement was in June, then we are now in August, then there is an inordinate delay. The recovery has been much much earlier.’
He further emphasized: ‘Police custody has to be given in extraordinary circumstances. This cannot be resorted to as a matter of right. It is not a matter of routine that you can seek custody. You will have to come out with exceptional circumstances. But here it is the same story that is being repeated. Nothing new. Unearthing conspiracy is their favourite word.’
Pasbola, on the other side, cited three medical papers, one of which was dated August 29 and said: ‘He needs medical intervention. Doctors have said that he can die if he is not given treatment. He can’t walk but there is no wheelchair given. Nothing is more important than the life of a person. The investigation will be futile if the person does not survive.’
Advocate Vaibhav Bhagade, appearing for Mane, argued: ‘This is the most pathetic way. The investigating agency is acting in a very irresponsible and callous manner. They say that they need to confront the accused with each other. Confrontation is not an investigation and whatever is said is inadmissible evidence. You (NIA) are acting like a fact-fixing agency than a fact-finding agency.’
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After hearing all three lawyers’ arguments, special Judge Prashant Sitre asked Vaze and Mane whether they had anything to say other than what their lawyers had said. Mane claimed that he was not interrogated by the NIA during his period in jail before being transferred to judicial custody and the agency had only taken his DNA sample. Vaze, on the other hand, simply stated that he ‘does not want to become Father Stan Swamy.’
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