Court grants bail to accused; HC questions CBI's slow pace in the case

The trio was granted bail against a personal bond and cash security of Rs 50,000 and the seizure of their passport

The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if there were any attempts on the latter's part to "dilute" or "slow down" its probe into the killing of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar. A bench of Justices S C Dharamadhikari and Bharati Dangre posed the question after going through the progress report that the CBI submitted before the court, following the bail of three accused in the case by a Pune court on Thursday.

The CBI, having failed to submit a chargesheet in the case within the 90-day timeframe allotted to it, entitled the three arrested accused in the case - Amol Kale, Rajesh Bangar, and Amit Degwekar - to default bail. Dr Dabholkar was shot on August 20, 2013 by two bike-borne persons on the Omkareshwar Bridge in Pune.

The Judicial Magistrate First Class S M A Sayyed's court has, however, granted a 45-day extension in the filing of chargesheet against Aurangabad-based Sachin Andure, 26, and Sharad Kalaskar, suspected of shooting Dr Dabholkar. The suspects have been arrested under the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act (UAPA). The defence lawyer argued that while the investigating agency invoked the UAPA, "it failed to submit an extension application."

The trio was granted bail against a personal bond and cash security of Rs 50,000 and the seizure of their passport. The HC directed both the CBI and SIT to submit their further progress reports by January 17 next year.

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