The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to former police officer Pradeep Sharma, arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran. A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha allowed Sharma’s appeal against a Bombay High Court order denying bail.
“We allow the appeal and grant bail to the appellant,” the bench said. Earlier, the top court granted interim bail to Sharma to meet his ailing wife.
Sharma was arrested in the case in June 2021 and was in judicial custody. Sharma had approached the High Court last year, challenging a February 2022 order of a special NIA court that had declined his bail plea.
On February 25, 2021, an explosives-laden SUV was found near Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s residence, ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai. Businessman Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV, was found dead in a creek in neighboring Thane on March 5, last year.
Sharma, who, along with police officers Daya Nayak, Vijay Salaskar and Ravindranath Angre was a member of the Mumbai police’s encounter squad that killed over 300 criminals in numerous encounters, has been accused of helping his former colleague Waze eliminate Mansukh Hiran.
