Sadik case: Mumbai cop Pradeep Sharma under scanner

Pradeep Sharma, the Mumbai police officer who inspired several Bollywood movies and was called ‘Bombay’s Dirty Harry’ may soon be questioned and even arrested in the Sadik Jamal fake encounter case. This is for the first time that his name has cropped up in the case.

Sources close to the development said that the SIT-CBI, probing the case has come up with evidence indicating at Sharma’s involvement in the fake encounter case.

Sources also said that contrary to the earlier held belief that Daya Nayak, another encounter specialist from Mumbai police, had a hand in Sadik Jamal killing, he may get a clean chit. Sources said that CBI during its course of investigation had found that it was actually Sharma who had handed over Sadik to a team of Gujarat police. The CBI is busy collecting evidence against Sharma and a team has been specifically created for the same.

Sources said that while it is true that Daya Nayak had custody of Sadik Jamal before he was handed over to Gujarat police, he was not the person who handed Jamal over to cops. 

“There is nothing to suggest Daya Nayak’s involvement in the conspiracy and killing of Jamal,” they said. Earlier, Nayak’s name had come up in the affidavit submitted by Mumbai-based ex-journalist Ketan Tirodkar, another accused in the case. But sources said that the probe team has not found any other substantial evidence against him. 

In fact, there are unconfirmed reports that Nayak may in fact become a witness in the case and provide important leads in the investigation.  It must be noted that Nayak’s name was not mentioned in the FIR filed by Shabbir Jamal Mehtar, the brother of Sadik Jamal, with the Detection of Crime Branch in June 2011.