Bombay High Court grants bail to convict in Narendra Dabholkar murder

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Sharad Kalaskar, one of the two men convicted in the 2013 murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, after recording prima facie doubts about his identification as one of the assailants and noting his prolonged incarceration. [Sharad Kalaskar v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.].A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and RR Bhonsale allowed Kalaskar’s application for suspension of sentence and bail during the pendency of his appeal against conviction in the Dabholkar case. .The judges observed that the crucial point in the application was Kalaskar's identity as an assailant, which the prosecution had sought to establish primarily through two eyewitnesses. After closely examining their testimonies and cross-examinations, the Court described them as chance witnesses whose conduct after allegedly witnessing the shooting was inconsistent with ordinary human behaviour..“Though they (witnesses) had seen the ghastly assault on the deceased (Dabholkar), both the witnesses chose to give preference and complete their daily chores of life 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 bench recorded..Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, who was shot dead by two assailants during a morning walk in Pune in August 2013.The case was initially investigated by Pune Police before being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014. The CBI arrested the accused between 2016 and 2019 and charged them under provisions including murder, criminal conspiracy, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Arms Act..The division bench was also critical of the manner in which CBI attempted to fix identity through photo identification rather than a Test Identification Parade (TIP). While the incident took place on August 20, 2013, Kalaskar was arrested only on September 3, 2018. "Though the investigating agency had every opportunity to conduct Test Identification Parade of Kalaskar, the investigating officer chose to establish identity by showing his photographs to the witnesses when he was already in custody," the Court noted, holding that such identification loses its sanctity..A Pune sessions court on May 10 convicted Kalaskar and co-accused Sachin Andure for the murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on each.The sessions court held that it was proved beyond doubt that Andure and Kalaskar had carried out the shooting.However, it acquitted three other accused, Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, Vikram Bhave and Sanjeev Punalekar, citing lack of reliable evidence linking them to the crime, despite noting suspicion and motive in parts.Kalaskar moved the High Court in 2024 challenging the sessions court verdict and seeking suspension of his life sentence and bail. Dabholkar's family has separately challenged the acquittal of the three others before the High Court..The division bench recorded that Kalaskar has been behind bars since September 3, 2018, had already undergone more than seven years of custody at both pre-trial and post-conviction stages. Given the pendency of criminal appeals, the 'remote' likelihood of his appeal being heard in the near future, the Court concluded that his life sentence could be suspended and he could be enlarged on bail..Senior advocate Niteen Pradhan with advocates Shubhada Khot, Shahen Pradhan, Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, Siddh Vidya, Ameeta Kuttikrishnan, Shambhavi Desai, Danish Patel and Gayatri Pore appeared for Kalaskar. Advocates Sandesh Shukla, Amit Singh, Bhushan Bhadgale, Ashlesha Suryavanshi, Janhavi Jadhav and Omkar Nevgi appeared for the complainant. Advocates Amit Munde, Jai Vohra and Shantanu Nakashe appeared for CBI.Additional public prosecutor Ashish Satpute appeared for State.