Bombay High Court: Anil Kilor, J., after considering long incarceration of the accused and lack of progress in the trial, granted bail to six accused, namely, Sachin Andure, Ganesh Miskin, Amit Degvekar, Amit Baddi, Bharat Kurane and Vasudev Suryavanshi, who were allegedly involved in the murder of Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare.
Govind Pansare and his wife were returning home from their morning walk in Samrat Nagar area of Kolhapur when two motorbike-borne men fired multiple rounds at them before fleeing. Initially, the case was handled by Rajarampuri police station, Kolhapur, but later, the investigation was transferred to a Special Investigation Team (‘SIT’). Being dissatisfied with the lack of progress in tracing the shooters, Govind Pansare’s family sought the case to be transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (‘ATS’). Further, the two shooters are still absconding and out of the 12 identified accused, 10 were arrested, and four supplementary charge sheets were filed and the trial for them is ongoing.
Thereafter, on 03-08-2022, this Court transferred the probe to the ATS, observing there was “breakthrough” in the present case. This Court had been supervising the probe into the case, but earlier this month, the court said it would not continue to do so. This Court, however, expedited the trial in the present case and conducted hearings on a day-to-day basis to ensure a timely decision.
Source: Press