A local court, which acquitted former Mumbai Police encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma from the 2006 case of fake encounter killing of Ram Narayan Gupta alias Lakkhan Bhaiya, has said no direct or circumstantial evidence was found to show the ex-officer's involvement in the case.
"There is no direct or circumstantial evidence to show the involvement of Sharma in the case," observed Judge V D Jadhavar in the 1,668-page judgment that was given to the victim's brother Ramprasad Gupta today.
On July 12, the court sentenced 21 persons, including 13 policemen, to life imprisonment after convicting them for murder.
The judge also termed the prosecution evidence put forth against Sharma as "weak" to come to a conclusion of his involvement in the offence.
The court also did not find any credence to the allegation that Sharma led the encounter team and rejected the statements of some of the witnesses.
On the allegation by the prosecution that the mobile phone records showed that one mobile, purported to have been used by Sharma, showed the location somewhere near the place of the encounter, the court said "it has been made clear that the mobile number attributed to Sharma does not stand in his name and on the basis of this aspect, implication of Sharma would mean an implication on the basis of surmises, conjectures and wrong inferences."
The judge also rejected the ballistic report produced by the prosecution to prove that the bullet found in the body of the deceased was fired by Sharma who is credited with gunning down over 100 criminals.
The judge observed that "the prosecution has relied much on the bullet retrieved from the body of the deceased and alleged that it belonged to Sharma's weapon. Only on the basis of these circumstances, Sharma cannot be connected to the alleged offence, especially when there is absolutely no other evidence."
On November 11, 2006, a police team had picked up Ram Narayan Gupta, alias Lakkhan Bhaiya, from neighbouring Vashi on the suspicion that he was a member of Rajan gang, along with his friend Anil Bheda, and killed Gupta in a "fake" encounter near Nana Nani Park in suburban Versova in Western Mumbai on the same evening.
