Exactly 13 years after rationalist and anti-superstition crusader Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead on a Pune road the Bombay High Court suspended the life sentence of convict Sachin Prakashrao Andure and granted him bail, pending his appeal against conviction, here on Tuesday. A division bench of Justice S. V. Kotwal and Justice R. R. Bhonsale extended to Andure the benefit of ‘parity’ with co-convict, Sharad Bhausaheb Kalaskar - who was granted bail by the high court in April this year. With Andure’s release, both men convicted in the Dabholkar murder case are now out on bail pending their respective appeals. Senior Advocate Niteen Pradhan, representing Andure, argued that the prosecution case rested substantially on an uncorroborated extra-judicial confession. He also highlighted the absence of a formal Test Identification Parade (TIP) to establish Andure’s identity and the failure to recover the murder weapon used in the crime. While granting bail to Kalaskar five months ago, the high court had taken note of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s failure to conduct a TIP. Identification based on photographs shown to witnesses while the accused was in custody was consequently questioned. Time in Custody The court had also noted then that Kalaskar had spent more than seven-and-a-half years in custody, and there was little likelihood of his appeal being taken up in the near future. The same considerations have now paved the way for Andure’s release on bail, and the detailed court order with the reasoning is awaited. In an interim application, Andure had also challenged his conviction for life and sought bail before the High Court through his counsel Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, which has now been allowed. On August 20, 2013 Dr. Dabholkar, 67, a physician, rationalist and founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was gunned down while on his morning walk at Pune’s Omkareshwar Bridge. The sensational killing triggered widespread outrage and renewed demands for action against forces opposing his campaign against superstition besides creating a major political upheaval. Initially the Pune Police probed the case and following a petition filed by the slain medico’s daughter Mukta Dabholkar in the high court, it was transferred to the CBI in 2014. The trial began in September 2021 and finally on May 10, 2024, the Pune Sessions Court convicted Andure and Kalaskar of murder and conspiracy, plus awarded them life imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs. 5-Lakhs each. The prosecution had alleged that Andure was one of the shooters, but the trial court acquitted three others – an ENT surgeon Dr. Virendrasingh Tawade described as the alleged mastermind, a lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and activist Vikram Bhave - for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, Mukta Dabholkar filed appeals against the acquittals of Tawade, Punalekar and Bhave which are pending before the high court for almost two years. Incidentally, Sachin P. Andure, Sharad B. Kalaskar and Dr. Virendrasinh Tawade were also named as accused – and later enlarged on bail - in the shocking killing of Left wing intellectual and CPI leader Govind Pansare who was killed near his home in Kolhapur on February 16, 2015. All the accused in the two murder cases reportedly harboured links with a right-wing organisation, the Sanatan Sanstha, which had later strongly denied any involvement in the crime.
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