Supreme Court rejects ex-cop Pradeep Sharma plea for suspension of conviction to contest polls

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to suspend the conviction of fake encounter case convict former cop Pradeep Sharma to contest the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls. [Pradeep Rameshwar Sharma vs State of Maharashtra].A Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R Mahadevan refused to stay the Bombay High Court order that convicted Sharma.."Sorry, all the best, but not when he is on bail," the Court said.Sharma then proceeded to withdraw his plea..The Bombay High Court had on March 19 convicted Sharma and sentenced him to life imprisonment in connection with a fake encounter case of 2006.The case arose from the encounter killing of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya, an alleged member of Chhota Rajan’s gang.Gupta and his friend were picked up on November 11, 2006 in a suburb area in Mumbai and Gupta was killed on the same day in a fake encounter.The case was registered in 2009 after a special investigation team found that a rival had paid police to kill Gupta. The SIT was formed on the basis of a High Court order directing registration of FIR.After a 5-year long trial, a sessions court in Mumbai acquitted Sharma in July 2013 but convicted 21 people including 13 police personnel. While three of the policemen were convicted of murder, the remaining 18 were convicted for abetment.The State government challenged the acquittal order before High Court claiming that the encounter had been staged. The police officers too filed appeals challenging their conviction.A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri V Godse of the High Court set aside the order of the sessions court acquitting Sharma.The Supreme Court had in April sought the response of the Maharashtra government to Sharma's appeal against the same, and granted him exemption from surrendering.It eventually granted bail to Sharma after the State acceded to the request for bail..Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Luthra appeared for Sharma today.They informed the apex court that Sharma runs an NGO, is a retired police officer, and has contested elections before. They stated that the trial court had acquitted him, but the High Court reversed that decision by way of its judgment running into 1,600 pages.The Supreme Court, however, refused to pass any order to suspend his conviction prompting Sharm to withdraw his plea..Sharma was in the news in a couple of years ago after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Antilia bomb threat and the connected case of murder of businessman Mansukh Hiren in 2021.He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in that case in August 2023.