New teams to track encounter witness in Mumbai

The Navi Mumbai Police have formed two special teams to trace Anil Bheda, the missing prime witness in the alleged fake encounter case of Ramnarayan Gupta, officers on Monday told the Bombay high court.

Bheda’s wife had approached the court with a habeas corpus petition stating that her husband has been missing since March 13 after he left his Vashi residence.

Bheda is the sole eye witness in the fake encounter case in which several policemen, including encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, have been arrested.

Bheda was summoned by a sessions court to record his evidence against the accused on March 18. The Vashi police told the court, “We are also going through call details in Bheda’s phone, as he had earlier complained to the police that he had been receiving threatening calls forcing him not to appear in court.”

The court directed the police to continue their investigation and submit a fresh report next week.

Gupta was shot dead allegedly in an encounter by the police on November 11, 2006, in Versova, on the suspicion that he was a Chhota Rajan gang member. A special investigation team, formed to probe the case, had arrested Sharma and 21 others.