Mumbai: Former Mumbai police inspector Pradeep Sharma, often labeled as an ‘encounter specialist’ for his role in eliminating numerous underworld figures, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. This verdict comes nearly 11 years after his acquittal in the infamous Lakhan Bhaiya fake encounter case.
Sharma, a member of the 1983 batch of police officers, gained notoriety for his aggressive stance against notorious gangsters, including Chhota Rajan and his affiliates. His career highlights include the elimination of Chhota Rajan’s aide Vinod Matkar and D-Company gangster Sadiq Kalia in Mumbai’s Dadar.
In a significant operation in 2003, Sharma led his team to neutralize three suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists in the Goregaon area of Mumbai. Despite these achievements, Sharma’s career was marred by controversy. He was dismissed from the police service in August 2008 due to alleged connections with the underworld but was reinstated in May 2009 following a decision by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal.
The turning point in Sharma’s life came with his arrest in 2010 over the alleged staged encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta, also known as Lakhan Bhaiya. Although he was acquitted in 2013, the recent ruling by the Bombay High Court has overturned the previous judgment, convicting Sharma and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
After resigning from the police force in July 2019, Sharma ventured into politics, joining the Shiv Sena to contest in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, albeit unsuccessfully. His legal troubles resurfaced in 2021 when he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Antilia explosives scare and the Mansukh Hiran murder case.
Sharma’s life and career have also been the subject of media attention, most notably in the Netflix docuseries “Mumbai Mafia: Police vs The Underworld,” which premiered on January 6, 2023. The series delves into the tumultuous era of the 80s and 90s in Mumbai, showcasing the battle between the police force, led by figures like Sharma, and the pervasive underworld, ruled by the likes of Dawood Ibrahim.
This latest development in Sharma’s life story adds another chapter to the complex narrative of law enforcement and its ongoing struggle against organized crime in India’s financial capital.
