Court refuses bail to Vijay Palande in Tikku murder case
A Mumbai court denied bail to Vijay Palande, accused in the 2012 murder of businessman Arun Tikku, citing his lengthy incarceration and prior convictions.
MUMBAI: A sessions court on Friday rejected the bail plea of multiple murder accused Vijay Palande in a case involving the murder of Delhi businessman Arun Tikku, who was found dead in his Andheri flat in 2012.
He had applied for bail, mainly on the grounds of long incarceration and parity, claiming that other accused in the case, facing similar allegations of conspiracy, had been granted bail.
The court, while rejecting his bail plea, observed that his long incarceration could not be the sole ground for granting bail. Palande was arrested in April 2012 for the alleged murder of Delhi businessman Arun Tikku and film producer Karankumar Kakkad. He is also facing trial in a third murder case involving an unidentified victim.
As per the prosecution, Palande had allegedly created a plan to kill Tikku, after renting out one of his flats. Palande prepared documents to show that the murder was a suicide, as per the prosecution, with an aim to usurp the property owned by Tikku.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitted that Palande was earlier convicted of a similar offence and had gone absconding. He was referring to a 1998 double murder case in which he was given life imprisonment in 2002. However, a year later, he jumped parole and went absconding, as per the police, and was subsequently arrested in 2012 for the murder of Tikku and Kakkad.
The court observed that more than thirty witnesses have been examined in the case, with ten to fifteen remaining. On the point of long incarceration, the court said, “On perusal of the judgments, no doubt the ground of long incarceration is a strong ground for bail but in this case is not simple incarceration but is noticed that accused is also in jail undergoing sentence for conviction in another case,” observed principal sessions judge A Subramaniam.
Acknowledging the police records, the court observed that Palande had gone absconding earlier and remained unavailable. “This is not a fit case for sole consideration of long incarceration as the only ground”, said the court while rejecting the plea of Palande. The court passed the order, while noting that Palande is already convicted in another case.