Mumbai, May 15: Dismissed encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, arrested in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Chhota Rajan gangster Ram Narayan Gupta, will have to spend more time behind bars, after the sessions court on Friday rejected his bail application for the second time.
The senior police inspector was arrested by a Bombay High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on January 8, 2010. Earlier, his bail plea was rejected by the sessions court on March 16. Sharma’s counsel, Mahesh Jethmalani had contended he was falsely implicated based on evidence manipulated by the SIT.
Jethmalani had primarily relied on discrepancies in the ballistic report for three bullets retrieved from the body, and in the report on his cellphone.
However, the dead gangster’s brother, advocate Ram Prasad Gupta, opposed the bail plea, saying the SIT was created much later, so there was no question of tampering with evidence.
—Agencies