2006 fake encounter case: SC seeks Maharashtra govt reply on bail plea of ex-cop Pradeep Sharma

New Delhi: In a relief to former Mumbai Police officer Pradeep Sharma, the Supreme Court on Monday said he need not surrender till further orders to undergo the life sentence awarded to him in a 2006 fake encounter killing case. The apex court also sought a response from the Maharashtra government on his bail plea in the case.

While admitting Sharma's appeal against the March 19 Bombay High Court verdict, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra said,"It is a case of reversal of acquittal by the high court, where the appeal is filed by the appellant. The statutory appeal is admitted for hearing. Issue notice on bail plea. The high court has directed him for surrender in three weeks. Till the next date of hearing, he need not surrender."

Sharma, who along with the likes of Daya Nayak, Vijay Salaskar and Ravindra Angre was part of a dreaded squad of Mumbai police that took on the city's underworld in the 1990s and 2000s and killed scores of alleged criminals, has challenged the Bombay High Court order which sentenced him to life imprisonment in the 2006 fake encounter killing of Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged close aide of gangster Chhota Rajan.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Subhash Jadhav, appearing for Sharma, submitted that the incident happened nearly 20 years ago and their client was not at the crime scene. Only his revolver was used, they said.

Senior advocate Yug Chaudhry, appearing for complainant Ramprasad Gupta, the brother of the deceased, opposed Sharma's bail plea and said he is a repeat offender.

He submitted that Sharma has been convicted in more than one case of fake encounter and there are instances of him influencing the witnesses.

Chaudhry said Sharma was granted bail in the Antilia bomb scare case in which an explosives-laden SUV was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence 'Antilia' in south Mumbai.

Rohatgi intervened and said Sharma was convicted in the case on the basis of a bullet, which was found in the deceased's body. He said it was claimed that the bullet was fired from Sharma's service revolver.

The bench said at present it is only issuing notice on the bail plea, and as far as the high court verdict is concerned, "it is a well constructed judgement and judges have taken great pain".

The bench said it will hear Sharma's bail plea after four weeks.

On March 19, the high court had upheld the conviction and life sentence imposed on 13 other accused, 12 former policemen and a civilian, in the case.

It said the "protectors/guardians of law cannot be permitted to act as criminals in uniform and if this is permitted then it would lead to anarchy".

The court noted that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the abduction, wrongful confinement and killing of Gupta in a fake encounter with "credible, cogent and legally admissible evidence".

It, however, quashed the 2013 judgement passed by a sessions court acquitting Sharma due to the lack of evidence and termed it "perverse and unsustainable".

The high court had convicted Sharma on all charges, including criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping and wrongful confinement, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

It had directed the former officer to surrender before the sessions court concerned within three weeks.

Sharma is also an accused in the of killing of businessman Mansukh Hiren to whom the SUV used in the Antilia bomb scare case was traced. Hiren had, however, reported to police that the vehicle had been stolen days before the incident. His body was found floating in a creek off a Mumbai suburb a few days after the incident.

On November 11, 2006, a police team picked up Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakkhan Bhaiya from Vashi area in Navi Mumbai along with his friend Anil Bheda, and killed him in a staged encounter near Versova in western Mumbai the same evening.

Gupta's associate Anil Bheda was released from custody in December 2006. However, in July 2011, a few days before he was scheduled to depose in court, Bheda was also allegedly abducted and killed. The state CID is probing the case.

Taking note of Bheda's case, the high court had said till date, the CID has not taken any steps to conclude the investigation and trace the perpetrators.

Twenty-two individuals, including 13 policemen, were initially charged in the Ramnarayan Gupta fake encounter killing case.

Following a trial, the sessions court in 2013 found 21 of the accused guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Two of the convicted individuals died while in custody.

Those convicted filed appeals in the high court, while Gupta's brother Ramprasad appealed against Sharma's acquittal.