13 city cops guilty of killing builder in fake encounter

1st Such Conviction In Mum; Sentencing Likely Next Week

Rebecca Samervel & S Ahmed Ali TNN

July 6,2013
Mumbai: In the first ever conviction in an encounter case in Mumbai, a sessions court on Friday held 21 persons, 13 of them policemen, guilty for the fake encounter of alleged Chhota Rajan aide Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya in 2006. The court, however,acquitted former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma who was the prime accused in the case.
    Of the convicted cops, six are police officers, among them former encounter specialist Pradeep Suryavanshi, and seven constables. They, along with the other accused, have been held guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder, abduction, conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
    Sessions judge V D Jadhavar will pronounce the sentence next week.
    The prosecution case was that Lakhan Bhaiya was picked up by a police team from Vashi and killed in an encounter in Versova on November 11, 2006. After his brother Ramprasad Gupta filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court, the HC in February 2008 ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter. The magistrate in his report said Lakhan Bhaiya had been murdered in cold blood. The high court then formed a Special Investigation Team headed by then deputy commissioner of police K M M Prasanna, and an FIR was filed.
BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, STAIN ON KHAKI
THE CASE
    On November 11, 2006, 'reformed realtor' Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiyya (33) and his associate Anil Bheda were picked up from Vashi by a police team in plainclothes. The cops said they suspected that they were members of Chhota Rajan's gang
    Later in the day, Gupta was shot dead. Police claimed he was killed in an encounter in Versova
    Key witness Bheda was initially lodged in jail; his remains were found in a jungle in Manor in 2011
THE ROAD TO JUSTICE Based on a complaint by Gupta's brother, the Bombay high court ordered a magisterial probe into his killing in February 2008
In August 2008, the magistrate concluded it was a "cold blooded murder"
On Friday, a sessions court acquitted Pradeep Sharma of all charges but convicted 21 others, including 6 officers and 7 constables
    The sentence is expected to be
    pronounced by the court on Monday THE MOTIVE: The SIT formed to probe the case said the murder conspiracy was hatched by Gupta's former friend, Navi Mumbai builder Janardan Bhanage, after they fell out over a tract of land. Bhanage allegedly roped in Sharma and Suryavanshi to execute his plan

Pradeep Suryavanshi, at left, who was leading the police team when Gupta was killed, was found guilty of murder

The victim Ramnarayan Gupta (L) and PI Pradeep Sharma