HC grants bail to right-wing group leader in Muslim techie's murder

The Bombay High Court Thursday granted bail to Dhananjay Desai, an accused in a case related to the killing of IT professional Mohsin Shaikh in Pune in 2014.

According to police, Shaikh was killed by three men after they were "provoked" by an inflammatory speech delivered by Desai.

Justice Sadhana Jadhav granted bail to Desai against a bail bond and surety of Rs 50,000.

His lawyer Abhijeet Desai said a detailed order giving reasons for the grant of bail will be available Monday.

As per the prosecution, on June 2, 2014, Desai-led Hindu Rashtra Sena had organised a meeting in Hadaspar area of Pune following the circulation of morphed pictures of King Shivaji, former Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and some Hindu deities.

The police alleged that Desai had given a provocative speech instigating the audience at the meeting. Afterwards, some of the attendees had gine on a rampage.

Three of them spotted two men on a motorbike, one of them spotting a beard, and attacked them. The victims, Mohsin and Riyaz, were both IT professionals.

Riyaz managed to escape but Mohsin died in the attack. Desai was subsequently arrested.

He had sought bail arguing that he had no role to play in the incident and was not even present at the spot.

In January 2017, another bench of the high court had granted bail to prime accused Vijay Gambhire, Ajay Lalge and Ganesh Yadav, observing that the killing wasn't a pre-meditated one and the accused had been provoked in the name of religion.