Timeline: Lakhan Bhaiyya encounter
November 11, 2006: A police team detains Ramnarayan Gupta aka
Lakhan Bhaiyya and Anil Bheda from Vashi. The same evening, Lakhan Bhaiyya is eliminated in an encounter near Nana Nani Park in Versova. Bheda is shifted to Kolhapur, then brought back to Mumbai and detained at Mid-town Hotel in Dadar for about a month.
November 15, 2006: Ramprasad Gupta, a practicing advocate and brother of Lakhan Bhaiyya, moves the Bombay high court alleging the encounter was fake.
February 13, 2008: The HC orders a magisterial enquiry into the encounter.
August 11, 2008: Metropolitan magistrate, Andheri court submits report concluding the encounter was fake – it was nothing but cold-blooded murder.
September 13, 2009: The high court constitutes a special investigation team (SIT) under KMM Prasanna, then deputy commissioner of police, zone IX, to investigate the matter.
April 3, 2010: The SIT files a charge sheet against 22 people, contends that Lakhan Bhaiyya’s former partner, real estate agent Janardhan Bhange, gave the contract to kill him to Sharma.
March 1, 2011: The trial court frames charges against all 22 accused, formally paving the way for trial.
March 13, 2011: A few days ahead of his scheduled testimony before the trial court, Anil Bheda goes missing.
March 15, 2011: His wife Aruna Bheda moves the high court apprehending he is abducted and could be killed.
July 21, 2011: The Navi Mumbai police inform the high court that Bheda is dead, as confirmed by DNA fingerprints on the burnt remains found near a farmhouse in Manor in Thane district.
On July 12, 2013: The sessions court acquits Sharma, the prime accused; convicts 13 other police personnel including Suryavanshi and 8 private individuals; all are sentenced to life imprisonment.
December 2, 2015: The state government suspends the sentence of 11 convicted ex-policemen for a period of six months and releases them from prison.
December 21, 2015: Acting on a petition filed by Ramprasad Gupta, the high court stays the suspension of their sentence and orders all 11 convicts to report back to jail to serve their remaining term.