Pradeep Sharma, who was API Sachin Waze’s mentor, started his career at the Mumbai police commissionerate in 1983. The sub-inspector soon emerged as an encounter specialist. He then headed the Crime Intelligence Unit that had until recently Waze at the helm.

Sharma was sacked in 2008 over his phone calls with Dawood Ibrahim henchman Chhota Shakeel. He was reinstated in 2009. Next year, Sharma was held for his alleged role in the fake encounter of Chhota Rajan aide Ramnarayan Gupta, alias Lakhan Bhaiya in 2006. While Sharma was acquitted, one among the 13 convicted cops was Vinayak Shinde, who is now in NIA custody in the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.