Senior cop arrested in fake encounter case

In a fresh development to the "fake" encounter case of Ramnarayan Gupta, a police officer was today arrested for his alleged role in the killing of the suspected aide of gangster Chhota Rajan, over which another top cop had been dismissed from service earlier.

In a fresh development to the "fake" encounter case of Ramnarayan Gupta, a police officer was on Sunday arrested for his alleged role in the killing of the suspected aide of gangster Chhota Rajan, over which another top cop had been dismissed from service earlier.

HT Image

Pradeep Suryavanshi, senior inspector at MIDC police station, was arrested after he was called in for questioning by Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the fake encounter case, Deputy Police Commissioner K M M Prasanna said.

With this, the total arrest in the case has gone up to eight, including encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma.

Ramnarayan alias Lakhan Bhaiyya was killed allegedly in a "staged" encounter by a police team headed by the then Inspector Pradeep Sharma on November 11, 2006 in Versova in Mumbai.

Dismissed inspector Sharma, constables Ratnakar Kamble, Tanaji Desai, Vinayak Shinde, and three others had been held by the SIT headed by Prasanna in connection with the case in January.

In August last year, the Bombay High Court had directed DCP Prasanna to lodge a complaint and head the probe in the case after the deceased's advocate-brother Ramprasad Gupta had filed a petition alleging that the encounter was staged.