Mumbai Ex-Cop Pradeep Sharma Jailed For Life In 2006 Fake Encounter Case

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday sentenced former Mumbai Police ‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma to life imprisonment for his involvement in the fake encounter killing of Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged close aide of gangster Chhota Rajan, in 2006. This marks the first conviction of police officers in a fake encounter.

In the current case leading to his conviction, Sharma was arrested in 2010 by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) monitored by the Bombay High Court. In 2013, a sessions court found 13 policemen guilty in the Ramnarayan Gupta case, while Sharma was the only one acquitted.

The high court, in its judgment, said the police officers, who are protectors of the law, had grossly misused and abused their position by abducting and killing Gupta in a fake encounter, and by giving it the colour of a genuine encounter.