Ex Mumbai Cop Seeks To Become Approver In Khwaja Yunus Death Case

Dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze has moved a plea before a court here, seeking to turn approver in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case.

Waze and three other policemen are facing trial in the 2003 case.

In a handwritten plea filed before additional sessions judge Sachin Pawar on Monday, Waze said he was never arrested in the case.

The former policeman stated that the prosecution nowhere says he was involved in the alleged murder, nor has the body of Yunus been identified.

Waze prayed to the court to record his statement wherein he has agreed to make full and true disclosure of the case facts.

"I have been suffering because of the pendency of this matter for the last 20 years. This is not only abuse of the process of law, but it has been harming my livelihood, reputation and status in society," Waze said in his plea.

He said the crucial aspect of this case is pending before the Supreme Court and its outcome is unlikely in the near future.

It does not seem like the trial would resume in the near future, and the end of this trial would take some years, the plea said.

"The agony I am facing would be endless," he said.

"I have decided to stick to my conscience and wish to make a full and true disclosure within my knowledge relating to the offence," Waze said.

Yunus, a software engineer, was detained soon after a bomb blast in suburban Ghatkopar in December 2002.

He allegedly escaped from custody on the intervening night of January 6-7, 2003, while being escorted to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for further investigation in the blast case, when a police vehicle carrying him met with an accident in Ahmednagar district.

Subsequently, the state's Crime Investigation Department (CID) registered an FIR against some police officers for allegedly killing Yunus in custody and then destroying evidence.

The CID inquiry at the time indicted 14 policemen, but the government granted the sanction to prosecute only four — Waze, Rajendra Tiwari, Rajaram Nikam and Sunil Desai.

They are currently facing trial in the case on the charges of murder, fabricating evidence and hatching a criminal conspiracy.

Waze, who served as an assistant police inspector, is currently in jail in the Antilia bomb scare case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)