Nine persons had been charged with the murder of the MLA. Three accused were discharged from the case during the course of the trial, while four others are absconding. Two persons were tried by the Sessions Court, namely Sarvar alias Kallu Khalil Baig and Mohammed Haroon alias Munna Mohammed Shaikh and were acquitted from all charges, including that of murder and attempt to murder.

According to the prosecution case, the conspiracy to kill Sharma was hatched by the nine charged in the case and three to four others between May 1993 and June 1. On June 1, Sarvar and Munna opened fire at Sharma when his car was stationed at Khambatta Lane, opposite Narayan Niwas, Khetwadi. While Sharma was killed onthe spot, his wife Veena and driver Ravi Karanjkar were injured.

Five persons, including Sarvar and Munna, were later arrested in connection with the murder. Three others, Mohammed Hamil, Hayat Ahmed Ashir Ahmed Ansari and Ayub Pathan Mohammed Tasbir Pathan were discharged from the case, while dreaded gangsters Chhota Shakeel, Ijaz Pathan, Nasir Khan and Sayyed Ali alias Mhapdya Mohammed Yusuf are wanted by police. Charges were framed against the accused under Section 120 (b) (conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (causing grievous hurt) read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The accused were also charged under Sections 25 (I-Ba) and 27 and 29 of the Arms Act.

Charges were framed against the accused on March 20 this year and the case thereafter came up for trial. All the key witnesses, including Sharma's wife Veena, driver Ravi Karanjkar, Sharma's brother, his son and another neighbour turned hostile as they failed to identify the accused before the court.Earlier the duo were identified by the witnesses in an identification parade conducted after the arrest of the two. With the key witnesses turning hostile to the prosecution case, the duo were acquitted by Judge Hiwrale.

During the past year and a half, several important cases have resulted in acquittals with key witnesses turning hostile. The important cases include murder of former managing director of East West Airlines Takhiuddin Wahid, attack on film producer Rajiv Rai, murder of videographer Jayant Jadhav and that of builder Natwarlal Desai (in both these cases underworld don Arun Gawli was an accused). In the Ramdas Nayak murder case, while four persons were charged only for possession of arms, all the accused including the four were acquitted from murder and conspiracy charges.