Patna: The legal troubles of DSP Rajesh Sharma continue to mount with proceedings resuming in the long-pending 2007 alleged fake encounter case in Muzaffarpur. A Muzaffarpur court has fixed July 15 for the next hearing after taking up a fresh application filed by the mother of one of the deceased through an advocate.The development comes days after Rajesh was removed from the post of SDPO in connection with the controversial Bharat Tiwari encounter case in Jagdishpur, Bhojpur. An FIR for murder has also been registered against him in Ara in that case. He was later posted as DSP in the Prohibition and State Narcotics Control Bureau in Patna.The fresh application was filed by Anita Devi, the mother of Manish Sharma alias Manish Mahiwal, one of the three youths killed in the 2007 encounter. Through advocate S K Jha, she sought further proceedings in the case, which had remained pending for years due to the absence of witnesses.Rajesh, a 1994-batch sub-inspector who was later promoted to the rank of DSP, served as the station house officer of Sadar and Brahmapura police stations before becoming SDPO of Saraiya in Muzaffarpur.His name first came into the spotlight during a shootout at a dancer’s brothel in Muzaffarpur’s Chaturbhuj Sthan red-light area, in which one alleged criminal was killed while Rajesh sustained a bullet injury to his leg.Another major controversy followed on Nov 4, 2007, when three youths were killed in a police encounter near MIT College under the Brahmapura police station area.Advocate Jha said the alleged encounter took place at around 4.30 am on Nov 4, 2007. He said the matter later reached the National Human Rights Commission, which, in its final order in Dec 2012, treated the incident as a human rights violation. Anita subsequently filed a complaint in the Muzaffarpur court in 2013.Jha said he was recently appointed as Anita’s counsel. “After examining the entire case record, he filed a petition seeking further proceedings to ensure justice.” He said the court heard the matter over two days, with arguments lasting nearly an hour, and fixed July 15 as the next date of hearing.
