Antilia bomb scare case: SC extends interim bail to former police officer Pradeep Sharma

New Delhi [India], June 26 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday extended the interim bail granted to former police officer Pradeep Sharma, arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran, to meet his ailing wife.

A vacation bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra extended the interim bail and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.
During the hearing, counsel appearing for Sharma told the bench that operation of his wife could not take place because the doctor was not available and it will be held in July now.

While grating bail to Sharma for three weeks, till June 26, the apex court earlier this month asked him to furnish the medical report indicating the status of treatment of his wife.

Sharma was arrested in the case in June 2021 and was in judicial custody.

He sought interim bail on humanitarian grounds.

Sharma has said that his wife has developed serious complications after surgery and her condition was deteriorating with each passing day.

Sharma sought interim bail for the limited purpose of taking care of his wife, his counsel has told the apex court.

On May 18, the apex court issued notice on Sharma’s plea challenging an order of the Bombay High Court which had refused to grant him bail.

Sharma had approached the High Court last year challenging a February 2022 order of a special NIA court which 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 neighbouring 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 in eliminating Mansukh Hiran. (ANI)