Bombay HC Grants Bail to Sachin Andure in Narendra Dabholkar Murder Case
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sachin Andure, who was convicted in the 2013 murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, observing that the evidence against him was "extremely weak" and that there were "fair chances" of his acquittal in his appeal.
A division bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and RR Bhonsale suspended Andure’s life sentence pending appeal and ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one or two local sureties of the same amount. The High Court directed him to report to the Deccan police station in Pune every first Monday initially for a year and thereafter once every three months.
Andure is also facing trial in the murder of activist Govind Pansare. With bail already secured in that matter, the order allows him to walk out of prison.
Dabholkar, 67, the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants while on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013. The case was initially investigated by the Deccan police station before being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2014 following a petition by his daughter, Mukta Dabholkar.
The High Court heavily questioned the prosecution's identification evidence, highlighting that two witnesses identified Andure for the first time in court nearly eight years and seven months and nine years and three months after the incident. The bench noted that neither witness had identified Andure's photograph, calling the delayed in-court identification an "extremely weak piece of evidence."
The bench also found an alleged extra-judicial confession to be weak, noting that the witness remained silent for more than five years and only disclosed the statement on August 23, 2018, five days after Andure's arrest. The court observed that there was no corroboration for this claim and pointed to an unexplained "loose end" regarding the recovery of the weapon and the ballistic expert's findings.
On May 10, 2024, a Sessions Court had convicted Andure and co-accused Sharad Kalaskar for Dabholkar’s murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment, while acquitting them 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 over lack of evidence. Kalaskar had earlier been granted bail pending his appeal.
