Antilia bomb scare case: SC grants interim bail to former Mumbai policeman Pradeep Sharma

New Delhi [India], June 5 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday granted three-weeks interim bail to former police officer Pradeep Sharma, who was arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran, to meet his ailing wife.

A vacation bench headed by Justice Aniruddha Bose posted the matter for hearing on June 26 this year and asked Sharma to furnish a medical report indicating the status of the treatment of his wife.

Sharma was arrested in the case in June 2021 and in judicial custody had sought interim bail on humanitarian grounds. Sharma said that his wife has developed serious complications after surgery and her condition was deteriorating with each passing day.

Sharma has sought interim bail for the limited purpose of taking care of his wife, his counsel told the apex court. On May 18, the apex court had 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.