The Kolhapur bench of Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to three persons, including prime accused Virendrasinh Tawade, arrested in connection with the murder of rationalist and author Govind Pansare in 2015, reported the PTI.

The two accused who were granted bail along with Virendrasinh Tawade include Sharad Kalaskar, and Amol Kale.

While Tawade and Kale will be released from custody, Kalaskar will remain in jail due to a separate conviction in the 2013 Narendra Dabholkar murder case, for which his appeal is still pending, according to the PTI.

Besides Tawade, Justice S G Dige of Bombay High Court`s Kolhapur bench on Tuesday said he was granting bail to the three accused, and would pass a detailed order later.

“The applications (filed by the accused for bail) are allowed. I will pass a detailed order later,” he said, as per the PTI.

The bench refused to stay its order at the request of a lawyer appearing for Pansare`s family.

Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Maharashtra`s Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20.

In January this year, six other accused – Sachin Andure, Ganesh Miskin, Amit Degvekar, Amit Baddi, Bharat Kurane and Vasudev Suryavanshi – were granted bail on the grounds of long incarceration and the fact that the trial is not likely to be completed in the near future.

Pansare and his wife were returning home from their morning walk in the Samrat Nagar area of Kolhapur when two motorbike-borne men fired multiple rounds at them before fleeing.

Initially, the Rajarampuri police station in Kolhapur handled the case.

The investigation was later transferred to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of the Additional Director General of Police (CID), Maharashtra.

Dissatisfied with the lack of progress in tracing the shooters, Pansare`s family had sought the case`s transfer to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

On August 3, 2022, the High Court transferred the probe to the ATS, observing there was “no headway” or “breakthrough” in the case.

Of the 12 accused who were identified during the investigations, nine have so far been arrested and two shooters are still absconding. Four supplementary chargesheets have been filed and the trial against these nine accused is going on.

(with PTI inputs)

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