The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Vikram Bhave, an accused in the 2013 murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar holding that there are “not enough reasonable grounds” to conclude that the allegations against him are prima facie true.
According to an Outlook report, a Division Bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale noted that there were discrepancies in the prosecution’s evidence and “the material on which much emphasis has been placed by the CBI to link the appellant (Vikram Bhave) with the incident in question, does not appear to indicate that the accusation levelled against the appellant can be said to be prima facie true.”
Bhave has been accused of helping two other accused, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar who allegedly shot Dabholkar on August 20, 2013 in Pune. CBI has reportedly claimed that Bhave had accompanied Sachin and Sharad for a recce of the crime scene and also showed them the escape route.
Early in March this year, the Bombay High Court had criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the State Special Investigation Team (SIT) for not completing their probe into the murders of communist leader, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar.
While hearing a batch of petitions filed by the families of Dabholkar and Pansare, the same Bench had remarked that the Dhabolkar was murdered in 2013 and the probe into the matter was yet not completed.
According to an Indian Express report, Vikram, who is currently lodged at the Yerwada Central Jail, will be released after submitting a cash bond of Rs 1 lakh. He has also been asked to stay in Pune for a month, surrender his passport and report to the police station for a period of three months.
Related:
Bombay HC disturbed at delay in Dabholkar-Pansare murder investigation
Narendra Dabholkar and his immortal ideas
‘I Shot at Narendra Dabholkar Twice’: Sharad Kalaskar Confesses