Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested former Mumbai Police encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma in the bomb scare case outside Mukesh Ambani’s house Antilia and the murder case of businessman Mansukh Hiran.
The arrest was made at the NIA’s Mumbai office just three hours after an agency team conducted searches at Sharma’s residence in the city.
According to sources, Sharma was arrested on the basis of statements of other accused mentioning his name and evidence in form of technical data pointing towards his possible role in the terror and murder cases.
Sharma was questioned twice earlier by NIA officials in connection with the case. He is known to be close to former policeman Sachin Vaze, who has been arrested by the central agency as the main conspirator in both cases.
Sharma joined Mumbai Police as a sub-inspector in 1983 and has been involved in over 300 encounters related to the underworld, out of which 113 shootouts are in his name.