The Bombay High Court convicted and sentenced former police officer Pradeep Sharma. He was given life imprisonment on Tuesday in connection with the 2006 fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta. He was an accuse close aide of gangster Chhota Rajan, in Mumbai . A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse overturn the Sessions Court’s 2013 decision acquitting Sharma. The bench of Judges called it “perverse” and “unsustainable.”
The court ordered Sharma, an “encounter specialist,” to surrender within three weeks. Ramnarayan Gupta aka Lakhan Bhaiya had ten complaints against him. But this alone did not give the accused “license to kill” stated The Bench.
Who Is Pradeep Sharma?
Pradeep Sharma is a police officer from 1983 batch S.I (Sub inspector) of Maharashtra police. He was popular for his fierce encounters and killing of gangsters during his service. He has worked in the police for 25 years. Although he is one of the most controversial police officers of his batch. Due to several allegations and his encounters, he was almost in every headline of Mumbai local newspapers.
Batch 1983 had some more controversial officers along with Sharma. These include Vijay Salaskar, Praful Bhosle, Ravindra Angre, and Vinayak Saude. Sharma was not in the limelight until 1999. Atleast not until he killed renowned gangster Vinod Matkar in an encounter. Throughout his career, there have been many encounters under his name. Some of them are gangsters like Parvez Siddiqui, Rafiq Dabbawala, Sadik Kalia, and three members associated with LeT.
He was one of the most well-known members of the Mumbai Encounter Squad. Pradeep Sharma also arrest Iqbal Kaskar, brother of global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, in Mumbai on extortion allegations.
Talking about his early life he came from a small village in Dhulia, Maharashtra. His father, Rameshwar Sharma, was a school principal. After moving to Mumbai, Sharma passed the MPSC exams and joins the city’s police department as a sub-inspector.
“Lakhan Bhaiya case” and Pradeep Sharma
Sharma was not an easy cop for gangsters. In his 25 years of service record, he has killed 112 criminals. He was dismissed multiple times because of the allegations.It was said that he had links with the underworld and criminal charges against him.
In 2006, a police team picked up Ramnarayan Gupta, also known as Lakhan Bhaiya. He was kidnapped from the Vashi district of Mumbai along with his companion Anil Bheda. This is said that he was killed in a staged encounter near Versova on the same day.
A Gupta associate , Anil Bheda, was allegedly abducted and assassinated in July 2011. He was a key witness who was killed in March 2011 after charges were filed. Till now the state CID has not made any improvements in his case. Even though there was no progress for more than a decade, with the help of a DNA sample Bheda’s body was recognizesd.
The High Court ruled that the police officers abused their position and power. They are supposed to protect the law. Still they abused their powers by kidnapping and killing Gupta in a fake encounter. The bench further stated that the death of Lakhan Bhaiyya, in police custody must be taken seriously.
The Bombay High Court convicted Sharma .These include of criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, and unlawful confinement. Thus, sentenced to life imprisonment. Other than this with him, 13 other inmates were involved in the case. Resulting in their acquittal six other convictions were revoked.
A Try in Politics
Pradeep Sharma resigned in July 2019 to join the Shiv Sena as a whole. Sharma stood in the 2019 Mumbai assembly elections from Nalasopara but failed. On September 13, 2019, he formally joined the ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. However, he lost by 43,729 votes to Kshitij Hitendra Thakur, a Bahujan Vikash Aghadi candidate.
