The Bombay HC on Monday admitted appeals of nine persons convicted in the fake encounter of gangster Lakhan Bhaiya. Meanwhile, the state has asked for additional three weeks’ time to reply whether it is going to appeal against the acquittal of encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma.
Advocate Harshad Ponda appearing for the convicted filed the appeals before the division bench of Justice P.V. Hardas and Justice P.N. Deshmukh. The nine convicts include eight civilians and one former policeman. The nine convicts are Hitesh Solanki, Janardhan Banage, Shailendra Pandey, Manoj Mohan Raj, Akil Khan, Sunil Solanki, Mohd Shaikh, Suresh Shetty and former police constable Vinayak Shinde.
Meanwhile, the state sought additional three weeks’ time to reply whether it is going to appeal against Mr Sharma’s acquittal. The HC had on August 19, asked the state if it was going to file an appeal against the acquittal of Mr Sharma in the Lakhan Bhaiya fake encounter case. Justices P.V. Hardas and Revati Mohite-Dere had then heard an appeal filed by brother of Lakhan Bhaiya challenging his Mr Sharma’s acquittal.