Bombay High Court dismisses ex-cop Pradeep Sharma’s appeal against discharge rejection in Mansukh Hiran murder case

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by former police officer Pradeep Sharma, 64, against rejection of his discharge application by the NIA special sessions judge in Mumbai, in the Mansukh Hiran murder case. The trial court last February rejected Sharma's plea to drop the case, citing strong circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime.Sharma is chargesheeted for his alleged involvement in connection with businessman Mansukh Hiren's murder case following the Feb 25, 2021 bomb scare near Antilia in south Mumbai.Chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar led the bench that dismissed Sharma's appeal, and the reasoned order will be made available later.The National Investigation Agency (NIA), represented by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, opposed Sharma's plea for discharge and his appeal against the trial court order. It cited its probe to allege that Sharma entered into a conspiracy with prime accused, another ex-cop, Sachin Waze, to eliminate Hiren. The prosecution said the SUV parked with gelatin sticks on Carmichael Road allegedly was Hiren's stolen vehicle.Sharma said he is not an accused in either the alleged theft case or the bomb scare case. He was arrested on June 17, 2021 only in connection with the alleged murder case.Sharma's appeal, argued by counsel Niranjan Mundargi and advocate Subhash Jadhav, said the special NIA court relied solely, and legally incorrectly, on documents not forming a part of the chargesheet, and without considering his plea to bring key witness statements on record which the NIA "deliberately suppressed", thus rendering the rejection "perverse" and an "abuse of legal process." .On August 23, 2023, after the trial court and HC both rejected his bail plea, the Supreme Court granted bail to Sharma in the case. The NIA court failed to observe that, in view of statements of former police commissioner Parambir Singh, Adv KH Giri, Vinod Hiren and ACP Nitin Alakhnore, "it can be clearly made out" that his meeting with Waze on February 28, 2021 "is innocuous", Sharma's appeal said. It also argued that the SC, while granting him bail, noted that the "observations made by the High Court" while denying him bail would in fact indicate that given the murder-conspiracy case against him, invoking of the UAPA, the anti-terror law, "would pale into insignificance".