The temporary bail granted to former police officer Pradeep Sharma, who was detained in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, was extended by the Supreme Court on Monday so that he may visit his ailing wife.
The interim bail was extended by a vacationing bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra, and the case was scheduled for hearing in four weeks. During the hearing, Sharma’s attorney informed the bench that his wife’s operation could not take place since the doctor was not available and that it will now take place in July.
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.
