RAMPUR, India (The Thursday Times) — Mohammad Sharif, who was acquitted last year of murder in the 2008 terrorist attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur, has been shot dead near a police station in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said.
Sharif, 52, was riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by his son on Tuesday evening when two masked men on another motorcycle fired at him from behind near the Panwaria village crossing and fled, police said. The shooting took place less than 200 metres from Khajuria police station, where Sharif had been called earlier. His son, 21, was unhurt.
Police are verifying a Facebook post by someone calling himself “Rahul Singh” that claimed responsibility for the killing. “We are working in all directions. We are also verifying and collecting details of the Facebook post,” said Anurag Singh, an additional superintendent of police in Rampur. A case has been registered against unidentified people.
CCTV footage shows the attackers’ motorcycle from a distance but not its number plate, police said. Sharif’s family said he had no known enemies, and police are looking into his past, his years in jail, and a possible property dispute. His body was handed to the family on Wednesday after a post-mortem.
Acquitted, but the case is not over
The attack on the CRPF camp in Rampur on the night of December 31, 2007, killed eight people and wounded five. A trial court later sentenced Sharif and three other men to death and a fifth to life imprisonment.
On October 29, 2025, the Allahabad High Court set aside those sentences and acquitted all five of murder and other serious charges, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. It convicted them under the Arms Act and sentenced them to 10 years in prison. Sharif was released in November 2025 after about 17 years behind bars and had been farming in his village, Badanpuri.
The Uttar Pradesh government has challenged the acquittals. On February 11, 2026, the Supreme Court agreed to hear its appeal, which is still pending.
