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Dabholkar murder: HC bail for convict Sachin Andure, life sentence suspended
Andure can now walk out of jail, having also securing bail in the Govind Pansare murder case
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday, 18 August, granted bail to Sachin Andure, who was convicted in the 2013 murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, and suspended his life sentence pending his appeal against the conviction.
A bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Bhonsle allowed Andure’s interim application seeking bail and suspension of his sentence. A detailed copy of the order was not immediately available.
Andure, who is also facing trial in the murder of activist Govind Pansare, can now walk out of jail after securing bail in both cases.
Dabholkar (67), founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while on a morning walk in Pune on 20 August 2013.
The case was initially investigated by the local police before the probe was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014 following a petition by Dabholkar's daughter Mukta Dabholkar in the high court.
The prosecution alleged that Andure was one of the two shooters. On 10 May 2024, a sessions court convicted Andure and Sharad Kalaskar and sentenced both to life imprisonment for Dabholkar's murder. They were acquitted, however, of charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act.
The sessions court also acquitted Virendra Singh Tawde, Sanjiv Punalekar and Vikram Bhave, citing insufficient evidence.
Andure subsequently appealed against his conviction before the high court and sought bail and suspension of his sentence pending the appeal. The court allowed his application on Tuesday.
Mukta Dabholkar has separately challenged the acquittals in the case and the exclusion of UAPA charges against Andure and Kalaskar. In her appeal, she alleged that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy involving right-wing extremists.
Dabholkar's killing was the first in a series of murders of rationalists and activists. Pansare was shot in Kolhapur in February 2015, Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi was killed in Dharwad in August 2015, and journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in Bengaluru in September 2017.
With PTI inputs