Antilia Bomb Scare: SC Extends Interim Bail Granted to Ex-Mumbai Police Officer Pradeep Sharma

The Supreme Court on Monday granted a two-week extension of interim bail to former Mumbai Police officer Pradeep Sharma in consideration of his wife’s upcoming surgery.

The ex-cop was arrested in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

The bench, comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Bela M Trivedi, cautioned that this would be the last extension of interim bail. If the surgery does not take place within this period, Sharma will be required to surrender after two weeks, with no further extensions. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Sharma, assured the court that he would surrender if the surgery does not happen as planned, stating that it had been delayed due to his wife’s unstable blood pressure.

Once Sharma surrenders, the court will address his plea for regular bail. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), noted that Sharma has been seeking extensions of interim bail on various grounds.

Previously, on June 26, the top court had extended Sharma’s interim bail by four weeks. On June 5, he was granted three weeks interim bail by the top court due to his wife’s impending surgery, subject to conditions set by the trial court.

Sharma had challenged a Bombay High Court order that denied him bail, and the Supreme Court had issued a notice on his plea on May 18. The High Court had expressed dissatisfaction with the NIA’s investigation into the case, as it failed to address the involvement of co-conspirators with dismissed policeman Sachin Waze, who planted gelatin sticks in an SUV parked outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai. The SUV’s owner, businessman Mansukh Hiran, was later found dead in a creek in Thane.

Pradeep Sharma, along with police officers Daya Nayak, Vijay Salaskar, and Ravindranath Angre, had served as a member of the Mumbai Police’s encounter squad, responsible for the killing of over 300 criminals in various encounters. The allegation against Sharma was that he had assisted his former colleague, Waze, in eliminating Hiran. Sharma had approached the high court last year after a special NIA court rejected his bail plea. He was arrested in June 2021.