After I-T raid, Pradeep Sharma’s luck runs out in fake encounter case

The I-T department had conducted raids last month at the residence of Sharma and a retired IAS officer Nirmal Deshmukh. Sources in the I-T department said the searches were conducted after a tax evasion issue came up during a probe into a real estate group. There were murmurs in the administration about the action being linked to state politics.

In the current case in which he faces conviction, Sharma was arrested in 2010 by a Bombay High Court-monitored SIT led by then DCP KMM Prasanna. In 2013, a sessions court found 13 policemen guilty in the Lakhan Bhaiya case, but the only person acquitted was Sharma.

Earlier in 2008, the Maharashtra government dismissed Sharma from the force for alleged nexus with the underworld. A year later in 2009, the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) had ruled that he be reinstated in the force. However, the government appealed against the order in the Bombay High Court.

Sharma was back and joined the police force in 2017 and later served as ACP in Thane police under the then
Commissioner Param Bir Singh. During his stint there, Sharma had arrested Iqbal Kaskar, brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Later in 2019, he resigned from the force and contested elections on Shiv Sena ticket from Nallasopara but lost out.

In 2021, Sharma was again arrested–this time by the NIA in connection with the murder of Thane resident Mansukh Hiran which was linked to the Antilia terror threat case in which an explosive-laden four-wheeler was parked outside the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Sharma was alleged to be involved in disposing of the body of Hiran.

Many felt that given the high-profile nature of the case, it would be years before Sharma would be given bail. Eventually, in August last year, he was granted bail in the case by the Supreme Court. Majority of the other cops arrested in the case are still behind bars.

Even when he was behind bars, there had been complaints about him having spent a chunk of his incarcerated time in the hospital on grounds of his ill health or being granted medical bail on account of some ailment faced by a family member.

An officer said, “Now too he has three weeks to surrender, and he will likely approach the Supreme Court. It remains to be seen if he still manages to ride his luck.”