Former police officer gets life term in fake encounter case
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment former Mumbai Police Inspector Pradeep Sharma for the fake encounter killing of Lakhan Baiya, alias Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged aide of convicted gangster Chhota Rajan, in 2006.
The court also upheld the life sentence awarded to 13 more people in the case. Twelve of them are former police personnel — Dilip Palande, Nitin Sartape, Ganesh Harpude, Anand Patade, Prakash Kadam, Devidas Sakpal, Pandurang Kokam, Ratnakar Kamble, Sandeep Sardar, Tanaji Desai, Pradeep Suryavanshi and Vinayak Shinde — and one a civilian, Hitesh Solanki.
Gupta was killed on November 11, 2006 at Nana Nani Park in Versova in northwestern Mumbai.
It is alleged that a police team led by Sharma, who was known as an ‘encounter specialist’, picked up Gupta and his friend Anil Bheda from their home at Vashi in Navi Mumbai. He killed Gupta in a staged encounter. Later, Bheda was also found dead.
‘Perverse acquittal’
The Division Bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Gauri Godse termed the decision by a lower court acquitting Sharma “perverse” and “unsustainable”. They said that the charges of wrongful confinement, criminal abduction, and fake encounter had been proven to be true. “It is a matter of shame that Anil Bheda’s murderers were not booked. The prime witness in the case lost his life to a gruesome murder. It is travesty of justice for his family,” said the court. The court also dismissed appeals by the 13 accused in the case.
A magisterial inquiry had been ordered on February 2008 after the victim’s brother and advocate Ramprasad Gupta filed a petition in the High Court.
In September 2009, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed by the court and IPS officer K.M.M. Prasanna, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police, was appointed to investigate the case.
In April 2010, the SIT filed a chargesheet against 22 accused in the case. It said that a real estate agent, Janardhan Bhange, had given a murder contract to former inspectors Sharma and Pradeep Suryavanshi against Mr. Gupta over a joint property transaction.
On March 13, 2011, ahead of his testimony before the court, Bheda, the prime witness in the case, went missing from his residence in Vashi. Four days later, his decomposed and burnt body was found in Thane.
A Sessions Court awarded life sentence to 21 accused but acquitted Sharma.