HC grants bail to convict Sachin Andure, suspends his life sentence

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail and suspended the life sentence of a man convicted for the murder of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, Live Law reported.

The prosecution said that Sachin Andure was one of those who shot Dabholkar dead in August 2013.

A copy of the detailed verdict by Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Bhonsale is yet to be made available.

The order came more than three months after the High Court granted bail to Sharad Kalaskar, who has also been convicted in the case.

Dabholkar, who was the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead in Pune in August 2013. His murder was followed by the killing of other rationalists and thinkers in a similar manner, including Govind Pansare, Gauri Lankesh and MM Kalburgi between 2015 and 2017.

A sessions court had in May 2024 convicted Andure and Kalaskar for the murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment. However, the two were acquitted of charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Three others – Virendrasingh Tawade, Vikram Bhave and Sanjeev Punalekar – were acquitted.

Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta filed an appeal in the High Court against the acquittal of Tawade, Bhave and Punalekar, and against Andure and Kalaskar being cleared of charges under the anti-terror law.

Both Andure and Kalaskar had approached the High Court seeking that they be granted bail while their appeals were pending.

Andure, in his bail petition, had argued that no test identification parade was conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Live Law reported. The CBI took over the case in 2014 after a High Court order.

Andure claimed that there were discrepancies in the statements of witnesses, with some of them claiming to have seen him shooting Dabholkar and others denying that they saw him at the spot.

Dabholkar’s family had opposed bail, arguing that it would send the wrong message to society, Live Law reported. They pointed out that Pansare, Lankesh and Kalburgi had been killed in a similar manner.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.