SUV bomb scare case: Former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma was controversial from early days

The Lakhan Bhaiya fake encounter was one of the many taints in Sharma’s career

Pradeep Sharma, who was API Sachin Waze's mentor, started his career at the Mumbai police commissionerate in 1983. The sub-inspector soon emerged as an encounter specialist. He then headed the Crime Intelligence Unit that had until recently Waze at the helm.

Sharma was sacked in 2008 over his phone calls with Dawood Ibrahim henchman Chhota Shakeel. He was reinstated in 2009. Next year, Sharma was held for his alleged role in the fake encounter of Chhota Rajan aide Ramnarayan Gupta, alias Lakhan Bhaiya in 2006. While Sharma was acquitted, one among the 13 convicted cops was Vinayak Shinde, who is now in NIA custody in the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.

Considered a blue-eyed boy of former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh, Sharma was back in the force in 2017 and joined the Thane Anti Extortion Cell which was then headed by Singh. Sharma again hit the headlines after he arrested Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar. In 2019, he took VRS to contest the state polls from Nalasopara on a Shiv Sena ticket and lost. Following Waze's arrest, Sharma had been questioned by the NIA. Sources said he had persuaded Shinde to kill Hiran.