NIA court allows Thane Police to interrogate ex-encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma

Thane Police are probing an extortion case against Pradeep Sharma and former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh

The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday allowed Thane Police to interrogate former Mumbai Police encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma in an alleged extortion case registered against him and former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Thane Nagar police is investigating a case registered on the basis of a complaint lodge by builder and cricket bookie Ketan Tanna, who has alleged that when Param Bir Singh was the Thane Police commissioner from January 2018 to February 2019, some police officers had extorted ₹1.3 crore. (HT File)

Special NIA judge AT Wankhede said Thane Police can interrogate Sharma in Taloja jail on November 1, 2, 8 and 9.

The court also allowed another plea of Mumbai crime branch for the custody of dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze – the purported mastermind of the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases. Sharma is also in jail in connection with these cases.

Thane Nagar police is investigating a case registered on the basis of a complaint lodge by builder and cricket bookie Ketan Tanna, who has alleged that when Singh was the Thane Police commissioner from January 2018 to February 2019, some police officers had extorted ₹1.3 crore from him after summoning him to the anti-extortion cell, which at the time was headed by Sharma. The accused cops had threatened to fix Tanna in fake criminal cases, he claimed.

Apart from Sharma and Singh, the other officers named in the case are deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Deepak Devraj, retired assistant commissioner of police (ACP) NT Kadam, inspector Rajkumar Kothmire and gangster Ravi Pujari.

The special court also allowed Mumbai crime branch’s plea for Vaze’s custody, after its counsels, advocates Shekhar Jagtap and Sairuchita Chowdhury, informed the court that the dismissed cop was now fit after the surgery and had also deposed before the justice KU Chandiwal Commission that is probing the allegations against Singh.

Mumbai crime branch wants to interrogate Vaze in connection with an extortion offence registered in August at Goregaon police station against him, Singh and civilians Sumeet Singh, Alpesh Patel, Vijay Singh and Riyaz Bhati. Businessman Bimal Agarwal had alleged that they had extorted ₹11.92 lakh from him. They had also allegedly threatened to register cases against his hotel.