Bombay HC Grants Bail to Sachin Andure in Narendra Dabholkar Murder Case
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sachin Andure, convicted in the 2013 murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, and suspended the life sentence awarded to him by a sessions court.
A bench comprising Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Bhonsale allowed an interim application filed by Andure seeking bail and the suspension of his sentence pending his appeal against the conviction. A copy of the detailed order was not immediately available.
Andure, who is also facing trial in connection with the killing of activist Govind Pansare, can now walk out of prison as he has secured bail in both cases.
Dabholkar, the 67-year-old founder of the anti-superstition organisation Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013. The investigation was initially handled by the local police before being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2014 following a petition filed in the High Court by his daughter, Mukta Dabholkar.
The prosecution claimed that Andure was one of the shooters. On May 10, 2024, a sessions court convicted Andure and Sharad Kalaskar for Dabholkar's murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
However, the sessions court acquitted both men of charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act. The trial court also acquitted Virendra Singh Tawde, Sanjiv Punalekar, and Vikram Bhave, citing insufficient evidence.
Following the verdict, Andure filed an appeal in the High Court challenging his conviction, along with the interim plea for bail and sentence suspension that was granted on Tuesday.
Mukta Dabholkar has also approached the High Court challenging the trial court's acquittals and the omission of UAPA charges against Andure and Kalaskar, arguing that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy by right-wing extremists.
Dabholkar's killing was the first in a chain of similar attacks on rationalists and activists, followed by Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in February 2015, MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in August 2015, and Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in September 2017.
