Encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma resigns

Encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma has resigned from the Maharashtra police.

Sharma, who in his nearly 35 years of service has killed over 100 gangsters and criminals, is likely to join politics and contest the ensuing Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections.

Sharma, a senior police inspector who was heading the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Thane police, has put down papers of VRS to the office of director-general of police.

It has been accepted in principle and he would be relieved in the next few weeks.

Sharma was from the famed 1983-batch of the State Police Service which includes officers like Vijay Salaskar and Prafulla Bhosale.

Salaskar laid down his life during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Sharma also mentored cops including Daya Nayak, a canteen boy from Karnataka who rose to become a policeman.

Sharma was once considered a 'Dirty Harry' of the Mumbai Police and had faced allegations from various quarters.

On August 31, 2008, he was dismissed from the Mumbai Police on charges of corruption but was reinstated on August 16, 2017, at the orders of Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal. He had also faced charges of fake encounter.