Bombay HC came down heavily on the Maharashtra government in Mr Govind Pansare's murder case.

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for not proceeding with urgency in the hearing of the plea seeking cancellation of bail of Virendrasinh Tawade, accused of murdering Govind Pansare, left-wing politician.

The public prosecutor present in the court sought an adjournment as the concerned prosecutor was not present before the court. Single judge Justice SV Kotwal was displeased. However, as a matter of last chance, the judge allowed an adjournment and posted the hearing on November 22.

Background

In February 2015, Mr Pansare was shot dead in Kolhapur and later succumbed to his injuries.

In 2016, Tawade was initially arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the murder of activist Narendra Dabholkar. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) Special Investigation Team (SIT) later arrested him for Pansare's murder because he was the "mastermind brain" responsible.

In August 2022, the case was transferred to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad with assistance from CID SIT.

In 2018, the Sessions Court of Kolhapur granted bail to Tawade as the trial was yet to begin. Aggrieved by the order, the State Government moved to the HC seeking cancellation of bail, claiming that the Sessions Court failed to consider that Pansare was the main conspirator and tawade was the follower of Sanatan Sanstha, which was opposed by Pansare. 

In addition, they emphasized that they had reasons to believe Tawade arranged the stay of two alleged assailants who later absconded, which was not taken into account by the Sessions Court in granting bail.