Three accused in Dabholkar murder get bail

A court here Friday granted bail to three accused in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case as the CBI failed to file a charge sheet within the mandatory period.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) S M A Sayyad granted bail to Amit Degvekar, Amol Kale and Rajesh Bangera, currently in judicial custody in connection with journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case.

Defence lawyer Dharmaraj Tandel, who had moved bail applications on behalf of all three accused on December 12, said the period for filing charge sheet had elapsed.

"Bangera and Degvekar were first remanded in CBI custody on September 1 and Kale was remanded in CBI custody on September 6. As the 90 days' time to file the charge sheet got over, today all three accused were granted bail," he said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had invoked Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) under which the period of 90 days can be extended, but the agency did not request the court for more time to file charge sheet against these accused, he said.

The CBI has already got extension of 45 days to file charge sheet against two other accused -- Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar -- who allegedly shot Dabholkar dead on August 20, 2013 on Omkareshwar bridge in Pune.

Advocate Tandel said that a CBI lawyer had approached the court Thursday, seeking adjournment of hearing on bail pleas.

"The judge kept the matter at 4 pm yesterday, but no CBI lawyer turned up," he said.

The agency had earlier claimed that the conspirators in Dabholkar murder case were also involved in subsequent murders of politician Govind Pansare (February 2015), Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi (August 2015) and journalist Gauri Lankesh (September 2017).