'His death was a cold blooded murder'

'If my brother was a criminal they could have filed a case against him and put him on trial. Why kill him?'

Eighteen years ago, on November 11, 2006, Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged member of the Chotta Rajan gang, was picked up by Mumbai Police Inspector Pradeep Sharma from Vashi, Navi Mumbai, along with his friend Anil Bheda.

Gupta was later killed the same day in a fake encounter and his body was found at the Nana Nani Park in Versova, north-west Mumbai.

His brother, Advocate Ramprasad Gupta, moved the Bombay high court on November 15, 2006, against the fake encounter.

It was not an easy battle for Gupta, as Pradeep Sharma was known to have killed more than 100 gangsters in encounters. His last count was 112 gangsters killed in encounters.

In February 2008, the Bombay high court ordered a magisterial inquiry into the encounter, which ruled it a case of 'brutal murder'.

In September 2009, the Bombay high court constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the case.

On January 8, 2010, Sharma and 21 others were arrested by the SIT.

In March 2011, Bheda, the sole eyewitness in the case, went missing five days before he was to depose in court. Two months later, his decomposed body was found in Navi Mumbai.

In July 2013, the sessions court acquitted Pradeep Sharma of all charges in the case, even while convicting 20 others.

On Tuesday, March 19, 2024, the Bombay high court reversed this order, and convicted Pradeep Sharma in the case, sentencing him to life imprisonment.

Ramprasad Gupta tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com about his 18-year-long struggle to get justice for his brother.

"Sab ka return ticket kata hua toh darna kya? (everyone has to die, so why get scared?)" says an elated Advocate Ramprasad Gupta.

"Kaunsa dibba, kaunsi train, aur kaun si seat, Bhagwan sab fix kar gaye hain. Some will die at the age of 30. some will die at the age of 60, and some will die at the age of 90. Maut sab ki aani hai," Gupta philosophises about the vagaries of life.

Gupta is busy on different phones, taking congratulatory messages or giving instructions to his staff to check that the case documents were uploaded on the Bombay high court Web site.

He pauses for a bit and continues, "I was intimidated into withdrawing the case because I was taking on powerful people, but I never gave up on my will to fight."

Asked what kept him going in the case, he replies promptly, "Hope and belief in India's legal system."

And belief in God, too, since he spoke of a return ticket?

"Yes. Sab Bholenath (Lord Shiva) ki kripa hai," he says with a wry smile.

Recalling the early days in the case, he says, "Nobody helped me in the system. It was a lonely battle. It is only when the court appointed a Special Investigation Team (in 2009) that things started going my way. The SIT did impartial investigation, which is applauded in today's judgmen."

"I am from the legal fraternity and there was no way I could give up on the wrong done to my brother," says Gupta, adding, "His death was a cold blooded murder. Justice can be delayed, but can never be denied. I never gave up and I always knew he was killed in a fake encounter."

In 2013 the Mumbai sessions court acquitted Pradeep Sharma of all charges in the fake encounter case.

However, another senior police officer and accused Pradeep Suryawanshi, who led the encounter team, was convicted of murder.

Twenty others, including 13 policemen, had also been convicted then on various other charges.

Was he disappointed when the lower court acquitted Pradeep Sharma in the same case in 2013?

"That judgment was perverse. It was a wrong judgment and the high court overturned that judgment today. It was only Pradeep Sharma who was not convicted; all the other policemen were convicted then. I always felt if Pradeep Sharma was not convicted, then there is no point in others getting convicted."

But why was his brother targeted? "Business rivalry led to the contract killing of my brother," Gupta says without any hesitation.

And what about his brother's alleged underworld connections? "He had no connection with any illegal activity from the early 1990s," Gupta insists.

"If my brother was a criminal they could have filed a case against him and put him on trial. Why kill him? This is not justice."

And what does he feel about encounter killings? "Except a few encounters all police encounters are fake. People made heroes of these police officers who were involved in fake encounters."