A sessions court has granted bail to suspended assistant police inspector and former encounter specialist Ravindra Angre, arrested on charges of firing at a builder in nearby Thane city.
Mr Angre was lodged in Thane jail for nearly a month on charges of firing at builder Mahesh Wagh allegedly with a view to threaten him following a personal dispute.
He sought bail on the ground that he had been falsely implicated in the case.
Angre’s lawyer Anil Kanade argued that his client had denied firing at the builder and contended that he was being framed up due to previous enmity with the complainant.
Additional Sessions Judge P.B. Sawant granted Angre bail on Tuesday on a bond of Rs 50,000 with one or two sureties in the like amount.
He has been asked to report to the local police station every morning for an hour.
The court also asked Mr Angre not to leave the limits of Thane district without the permission of investigating officer besides restraining him from visiting the area where the victim and complainant resides.
According to the police, Mr Angre had fired at Thane builder Mahesh Wagh who sustained minor injury. The police suspect that he had opened fire to avenge the builder’s act of filing extortion complaint against him earlier.
Wagh had complained to the police in 2008 that the officer was threatening him to pay extortion money, following which Mr Angre had surrendered after evading arrest for a long time.
Mr Angre spent more than 14 months in Thane central prison and was released on bail in May 2009 by Supreme Court. Wagh recently filed a police complaint alleging that Mr Angre had fired at him.
One of Mumbai’s best-known “encounter specialists”, Mr Angre has shot dead over 50 gangsters including notorious Suresh Manchekar in his 25-year career.