Ex-waiter’s discharge plea rejected in case of 72L robbery at Mumbai cafe owner’s home | Mumbai News

Mumbai: A special MCOCA court on Wednesday rejected the discharge plea submitted by 52-year-old former waiter Vasant Naik, arrested as a key accused in an alleged organised crime syndicate that committed a robbery of Rs 72 lakh at Cafe Mysore owner Naresh Nayak’s Matunga residence last year. The court found that the evidence, particularly the accused’s direct link to the conspiracy and recovery of the illicit money, established clear grounds for trial under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Naik admitted to having previously worked at Cafe Mysore. The prosecution argued Naik was removed from his service and, fuelled by anger and motive, misused his intimate knowledge of the Nayak home and habit of keeping large amounts of cash. “At this prima facie stage, the chargesheet reflects that the applicant gave information to the co-accused on phone call about money possessed by complainant,” the judge said. A case was registered with Sion polic. On May 13 last year, the accused, posing as crime branch and poll officers, conducted a “search” at Nayak’s home, claiming they had information he stashed Rs 17 crore, and took Rs 72 lakh. Police invoked MCOCA against 9, including 2 cops—one of them retired. The investigation allegedly revealed that Naik provided the critical information about the complainant’s wealth to a co-accused, Sagar Redekar. This information was then routed through a chain of co-accused, including Hiren Waghela, Niraj Khandagale, and Ajit Aparaj, before reaching Premchand Jaiswal, the alleged gang leader, who orchestrated the crime with others.The judge found strong prima facie evidence of Naik’s involvement through direct material. The complainant’s statement reflected that Naik had “visiting terms” to his house and “having knowledge that he possessed cash amount inside his house and he used to remain alone in the house”. The recovery panchnama showed that Rs 50,000 of the looted amount was recovered “at the instance of present applicant (Naik) which was concealed by him in red coloured travelling bag kept inside the cupboard of his room”.The call detail records (CDR) showed that Naik made calls to co-accused Sagar Redekar and Hiren Wagela on May 12 and 13, 2024, immediately preceding and on the day of the incident.Addressing the defence claim that the money recovered was unconnected to the crime and the calls were merely social, the judge said, “At this prima facie stage, chargesheet reflect that the applicant gave information to the co-accused on phone call about money possessed by complainant. Therefore, he made phone calls to the co-accused on the day of incident and prior to one day of the incident. As earlier discussed the defence cannot be considered at this stage.“