Missing witness got calls warning him of threat to life

Two days before Anil Bheda, the sole eyewitness in the Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiyya fake encounter case went missing, he allegedly received calls from an unknown person who told him his life was under threat. Bheda went missing from his Vashi residence on March 13.

Two days before Anil Bheda, the sole eyewitness in the Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiyya fake encounter case went missing, he allegedly received calls from an unknown person who told him his life was under threat. Bheda went missing from his Vashi residence on March 13.

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The Hindustan Times has accessed the transcripts of the conversations between Bheda and the caller, which forms part of the documents submitted along with the chargesheet by the Special Investigation Team.

In the first of all calls, which came at 11:44 am on March 11, the caller told Bheda that Chhota Rajan had dispatched his gang members to shoot him as he was testifying against one “PS”.

In the second call received on March 12, the caller told Bheda to find a way to approach PS in prison if he wanted to stay alive. In another call later that day, the caller told Bheda that he would benefit “in the long run” if he went to meet PS.

The man also advised Bheda to leave his Vashi residence and instead stay elsewhere for a few days.

Bheda and Lakhan bhaiyya, who police claim was a Chhota Rajan gangster, had been allegedly picked up by the police on November 11, 2006 from Vashi. Gupta was later killed at Nana-Nani Park in Versova, in an encounter headed by now dismissed encounter specialist, Pradeep Sharma.