The Maharashtra government along with the family members of Govind Pansare have moved the Bombay High Court challenging a lower court order granting bail to key accused Sameer Gaikwad in the murder of the rationalist.
A Kolhapur sessions court had on June 17 this year had granted bail to Gaikwad, an alleged member of the right wing group Sanatan Sanstha.
Pansare and his wife were shot by unidentified persons in Kolhapur during their morning walk on February 16, 2015. While his wife survived, the veteran CPI leader died in a Mumbai hospital four days later.
Gaikwad was arrested in September 2015 for his alleged involvement in Pansare’s killing.
The state government formed a Special Investigation Team of the CID to probe the murder.
The Maharashtra government and Pansare’s daughter and daughter-in-law have filed applications in the high court challenging the lower courts order granting bail to Gaikwad.
Pansare’s family members, in their application, said that the sessions court, while granting bail in matters involving serious crime, must consider several factors like nature and severity of punishment in case of conviction, apprehension of influencing witnesses or threat to the complainant besides possibilities of tampering with the evidence and hampering investigation and the prima facie satisfaction of the court in support of the charge.
“The sessions court has failed to appreciate that the conspirator and shooters involved in the killing of Pansare case may also be involved in the murder of activist Narendra Dabholkar,” said the application of Pansare’s family members.
The applications, of the government and Pansare’s family members, will come up for hearing before the single judge bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere in due course of time.
