The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a plea for an interim bail for three weeks to retired high-profile Mumbai police officer and encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, arrested in connection with the sensational Mansukh Hiran murder case.
He challenged the Bombay High Court order of January 23, 2023, which rejected his bail application.
A vacation bench of Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal said Sharma would be released on bail to take care of his ailing wife, on such terms and conditions as fixed by the trial court.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati for the NIA opposed the plea and asked the court to direct for production of medical records.
The court said the matter would be fixed for consideration again after three weeks.
Sharma, led by senior advocate Siddharth Dave, claimed that the wife's health condition is deteriorating with each passing day and she is in dire need of immediate surgery.
“Petitioner’s mother is 93 years old and his wife is her primary caregiver. Due to the current medical complications of the wife, there is nobody to look after the wife and mother. The petitioner is the only male member to care for his wife and old aged mother,” it said.
Sharma has been in custody in the case since June 17, 2021.
An SUV laden with gelatin and a death threat to the Ambani family was found abandoned near the iconic Antilia building on February 25, 2021. A few days later on March 5, the vehicle owner Hiran was found dead in Thane Creek.
The National Investigation Agency, which took over the probe from Maharashtra Police, claimed Sharma allegedly conspired with another sacked policeman Sachin Vaze to finish off Hiran, considered a 'weak link' in the entire conspiracy to terrorise industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his family.
The NIA said that Hiran was in the know of the entire plot and the accused Sharma-Vaze were worried that he would spill the beans on them, so they plotted to eliminate him.
(Published 05 June 2023, 12:56 IST)
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