The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former police officer Pradeep Sharma in connection with the 2006 Lakhan Bhaiya encounter case, for which he was convicted by the Bombay High Court. The court passed the order after the Maharashtra government's lawyer said there was no objection to granting bail.
In April, the Supreme Court had sought the Maharashtra government's response to Sharma's petition challenging his conviction and life sentence in the 2006 fake encounter case.
The Bombay High Court, while convicting Sharma, ordered him to surrender within three weeks of sentencing. However, the Supreme Court in April granted Sharma immunity from surrendering himself to authorities until further orders.
On March 19, the Bombay High Court convicted Sharma in the fake encounter case and sentenced him to life imprisonment, after which he appealed the verdict in the Supreme Court. Previously, a Mumbai court had acquitted Sharma in July 2013, but convicted 21 others, including 13 police officials.
Ramprasad Gupta (also known as Lakhan Bhaiya), Ramnarayan Gupta's younger brother, who has been pursuing the case, said, “It is unfortunate that the state government said there was no objection and ended up favoring Sharma.'' said.
The case arose from the encounter killing of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya, an alleged member of Chhota Rajan gang.
Mr. Gupta and his friend were picked up in a Mumbai suburb on November 11, 2006, and Mr. Gupta was allegedly killed the same day in a fake encounter.
The case was registered in 2009 after a special investigation team led by IPS officer KMM Prasanna found that a rival had paid money to the police for the murder of Gupta. The SIT was set up on the basis of a High Court order directing registration of an FIR.
Sharma is also an accused in the Mansukh Hiran murder case related to the 2021 Antilia terror threat case in which gelatin sticks were kept outside businessman Mukesh Ambani's residence.
© Indian Express Private Limited
Originally uploaded to: October 5, 2024 23:07 IST
