On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court suspended the life sentence of Sachin Andure, who was convicted in the 2013 murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. The court granted him bail, citing that the evidence against him was ‘extremely weak’ and suggested that it could potentially lead to his acquittal.
They were, however, acquitted of charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act. Andure, who is also facing trial in connection with the killing of activist Govind Pansare, can walk out of jail now as he has secured bail in both the cases. The court ordered Andure to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000. Initially, the local police probed the case, but following a petition filed in the HC by his daughter Mukta Dabholkar, the investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014. On May 10, 2024, a sessions court convicted Andure and Sharad Kalaskar for Dabholkar’s murder, sentencing them to life in prison.
“The applicant is in custody based on a weak piece of evidence for about six years from the arrest in this case and hence, deserves to be released on bail,” the judgment said. Terming testimonies in the case as “extremely weak”, the high court, in its order, noted that the two eyewitnesses in the case had identified Andure for the first time nearly eight years after the shooting, which is quite a long period for identification.
The court had earlier acquitted Virendra Singh Tawde, Sanjiv Punalekar and Vikram Bhave in the Dabholkar murder case, citing insufficient evidence.
