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 case in which an explosives-laden SUV was found near Ambani’s residence.