THE National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested former “encounter specialist” police officer Pradeep Sharma and two others in Mumbai for their alleged involvement in the ‘Antilia’ bomb scare case and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiren, an official said. Sharma is the fifth policeman to be arrested in the case by the NIA, which has so far held 10 persons in this connection.

 

“An NIA team picked up Sharma at Aamby Valley in Lonavla hill station near Mumbai on Wednesday night, after which he was brought to the central agency’s office in south Mumbai for questioning,” he said. The NIA also conducted a raid at his residence located in J B Nagar in Mumbai’s Andheri (west) around 6 am, and the operation continued for several hours, during which some incriminating documents were recovered, the official added.