SIT chargesheets encounter specialist Sharma

The Mumbai police filed a chargesheet against encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma and 20 others in an alleged fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta, a suspected aide of gangster Chhota Rajan, on Saturday.

The Special Investigation Team probing the fake encounter case, filed 1,150 pages chargesheet, which states that 10 accused including Pradeep Sharma, Senior Police Inspector Pradeep Suryavanshi, three other policemen and five civilians have been arrested in the case, SIT head K M M Prasanna said.

"Eleven more accused including nine policemen attached with various departments were shown as absconders," Prasanna said.

All the accused were booked under Section 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 365 (kidnapping and abducting with intent to confine a person), 344 (wrongful confinement for 10 or more days), 203 (giving false information to commit an offence), 120-B criminal conspiracy of IPC, he said.

The chargesheet, which was filed in a court in suburban Andheri, contains details of the incident, 180 witness accounts and forensic reports, he said.

Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiyya was allegedly shot dead in an encounter by police team headed by Sharma on November 11, 2006, in suburban Versova.

Ramnarayan's advocate brother Ramprasad had approached the Bombay high court claiming that his brother was murdered in the staged encounter, following which the SIT was formed.

All the arrested accused are presently in judicial custody and lodged in a Thane central prison.