New Delhi: Released from jail a year ago after his acquittal by the Allahabad High court in the 2008 terror attack on a CRPF camp that claimed eight lives, 52-year-old Mohammad Shareef was shot dead by two bike-riding masked assailants on Tuesday, the police said. Shareef was killed less than 200 metres away from Khajuria Police Station in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.
According to the police, Shareef had been summoned to the Khajuria Police Station for verification around 4 pm. “He left the police station sometime after 6 pm and was shot around 6.30 pm, some 200 metres away from the police station,” said Anurag Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police, Rampur.
“Two bike-borne masked assailants came and opened fire at Shareef near Panwaria village. Shareef was riding pillion on another bike behind his son when these men approached them, opened fire and then fled the spot,” he told ThePrint.
According to the police, residents of the village first alerted the police who took Shareef to a hospital where doctors declared him dead. His son escaped unhurt.
The Additional SP said that two bullet wounds were visible on Shareef’s body. “The picture will become clear after the post-mortem examination,” the officer added. He told ThePrint that they are in the process of recording statements of the family members to determine if there were any recent threat or disputes involving Shareef.
Since his release from jail, Shareef had been living with his family and farming his land at Badanpuri village.
Shareef was arrested in connection with the terror attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on the intervening night between 31 December 2007 and 1 January 2008. Seven CRPF personnel and a rickshaw-puller were killed and five others injured in the attack.
The police had arrested Shareef along with Jung Bahadur from Moradabad, Kausar from Pratapgarh, Khan from Bareilly and Sabauddin from Bihar. Two Pakistani nationals, Shahzad and Farooq, were also arrested in the case. The police said they had recovered AK-47 rifles, magazines, grenades and other items from the accused.
In November 2019, a court in Rampur awarded the death sentence to Shareef, Sabauddin and the two Pakistani nationals, Imran Shahzad and Mohammad Farooq. Jung Bahadur was sentenced to life in prison while Gulab Khan and Mohammad Kausar were acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence.
In October 2025, the Allahabad High Court set aside the order of death penalty to the four men and life imprisonment for the fifth, citing defects in the investigation that struck at “the root of the case”. It mainly cited gaps related to eyewitness accounts and the safekeeping of evidence. The court however, sentenced the five men to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959, related mainly to possession, and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each. The high court ruled that the “period of imprisonment undergone by the appellants will be adjusted towards… sentence awarded to the appellants”.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
Also Read: CAPFs’ real battle: 95 suicides in 2026; 0 CRPF troopers killed in action but 26 killed themselves