Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Sharad Kalaskar, a convict in the 2013 murder case of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, and suspended his life sentence, doubting his identity as the alleged assailant and questioning the integrity of two ‘eyewitnesses’.
A bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Ranjitsinha Bhonsale directed Kalaskar to deposit a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and to appear before the Deccan police station in Pune, where the murder case was registered, once each month.
He had challenged his conviction by a special court in 2024 in the high court, seeking bail till the appeal is finally heard and decided.
Kalaskar, who is also facing trial for the killing of communist leader Govind Pansare, was granted bail by the high court last October. With the HC granting him relief in the Dabholkar case, he can now walk out of jail after completing the bail formalities.
Dabholkar, 67, the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013.
On Wednesday, a bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Ranjitsinha Bhonsale noted that Kalaskar has been in jail since his arrest in September 2018, and the likelihood of the high court taking up his appeal against conviction for hearing in the near future was remote.
“We are of the opinion that, during the pendency of the appeal, the substantive sentence imposed upon him (Kalaskar) can be suspended and the applicant (Kalaskar) can be released on bail,” the HC said in its judgment.
Rejecting the prosecution’s request to stay the operation of the bail order, the bench said,”As we have expressed doubt about the identity of the applicant (Kalaskar) as one of the assailants in our order, the prayer for stay is rejected”.
The high court raised doubts about the statements of two witnesses, who the prosecution had identified as eyewitnesses.
It noted that the evidence of these two witnesses would clearly indicate that they are “chance witnesses” as though they both claim to have witnessed the ghastly assault, they chose to first complete their daily chores and thereafter leisurely approached the police to give information.
“According to us, the conduct of these two witnesses is not of the men of common prudence and raises doubt in the mind of the court about their witnessing the incident,” the HC stated in its order.
The bench noted that the prosecution didn’t conduct an identification parade of Kalaskar in front of the two so-called eyewitnesses and showed them only a photograph of the accused.
Dabholkar’s murder was the first in a chain of killings of three other rationalists and activists: Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in February 2015, Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in August 2015, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in September 2017.
The Dabholkar murder case was initially probed by the local police, but following a petition filed in the HC by his daughter Mukta, the investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014.
The prosecution had claimed that Kalaskar was one of the shooters.
On May 10, 2024, a sessions court convicted Sachin Andure and Kalaskar for Dabholkar’s murder, sentencing them to life in prison. They were, however, acquitted of charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act.
The court had also acquitted Virendra Singh Tawde, Sanjiv Punalekar, and Vikram Bhave, citing insufficient evidence.
Kalaskar challenged his conviction before the high court and sought bail through lawyer Shubhada Khot, citing the pending hearing of his appeal.
Mukta Dabholkar had challenged the acquittals and the exclusion of UAPA charges against Andure and Kalaskar in the high court. Her plea claimed the murder was part of a larger conspiracy by right-wing extremists. PTI SP GK NSK
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