The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to an accused in Pune techie Mohsin Shaikh’s murder case.
The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to an accused in Pune techie Mohsin Shaikh’s murder case. The applicant, Prasad Pansare, had contended that there is no direct evidence to show that he was involved in the murder.
Mohsin was allegedly killed by members of a radical Hindu outfit when he was returning home after derogatory pictures of Shivaji Maharaj and Bal Thackeray were uploaded on a social networking site, triggering communal tension across the city. Dhananjay Desai, the chief of Hindu Rashtra Sena, is also arrested in this case and his bail applications have been rejected by both the trial and high court.
Pansare, via advocate Abhijeet Desai had argued before Justice A.M. Badar that complainant Mobin Shaikh, who is the brother of deceased, arrived at the spot after the assault on Mohsin Shaikh. He argued that Mobin is not an eyewitness to the incident and therefore there was no question of identification of the assailants by him.
It was also argued on Pansare’s behalf that two other injured persons who identified him were assaulted at some other place and the applicant’s evidence of identification was of no value.
On the other hand, the government pleader argued that the complainant had identified the applicant as the assailant and two police personnel also named the applicant, so considering the nature of crime the court should not grant him bail.
After hearing arguments, Justice Badar observed that another injured person, Amin Haroon Shaikh, who was assaulted inside a shop, had not identified the applicant. Though Mobin identified him, “No overbearing importance can be given to such identification,” said the judge, because Mobin was not present at the time of assault. Considering that the court has already granted bail to three accused of this case and “considering the nature of evidence available against the present applicant, though he is accused of the offence punishable with death or life imprisonment, he deserves to be released on bail,” said the judge and granted him bail on personal bond of Rs 10,000.
