The Bombay High Court has recently concluded the hearings for 16 appeals related to the 2006 Lakhan bhaiya fake encounter case and has reserved its order. After an extensive four-month period of deliberations, the court is now in the process of making its final decision.

A resident of Vasai named Lakhan Bhaiya, whose actual name was Ramnarayan Gupta, was labeled as a gangster and reportedly shot in Mumbai. The encounter in question was purportedly conducted under the supervision of former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma.

In 2013, the sessions court convicted 21 individuals in the case, which included 13 police officers, but Pradeep Sharma was acquitted. All the individuals who were found guilty were sentenced to life imprisonment.

A panel consisting of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse presided over the appeals filed by individuals who had been convicted in the encounter case.

Lakhan Bhaiya's brother and his advocate, Ram Prasad Gupta, had filed an appeal against Pradeep Sharma's acquittal and had also requested an increase in the sentence. However, before the court reserved its order, Gupta decided to withdraw his 2013 revision application, in which he had sought to enhance the sentence, including seeking capital punishment for the convicts.

The state government had also filed an appeal against Pradeep Sharma's acquittal in the case. 

Advocate Rajiv Chavan, the special Public Prosecutor appointed by the state government, presented arguments opposing Sharma's acquittal. Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry argued on behalf of advocate Gupta. Both of them contended before the court that the 2006 encounter had been orchestrated and manipulated, and the police had fabricated false evidence to cover it up. Advocate Gupta also emphasized that the ballistic report and call data records indicated that Sharma was present at the encounter location and that he was the mastermind behind the conspiracy to eliminate Lakhan bhaiya.

The court commenced hearing the appeals on July 3 of this year. In the process, it had to review an extensive amount of documentation, including 17,000 pages of records and proceedings from the lower court, which were contained in 57 volumes. In addition to these documents, the arguments and submissions presented before the bench over the past several months must also be taken into account before the bench can render a judgment.