HC refuses bail to duo who attacked MNS leader

The incident for which the duo was arrested occurred on March 3, when four persons attacked Deshpande while he was taking a morning walk at Shivaji Park

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of two persons accused of attacking Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Sandeep Deshpande in March this year, stating they could jeopardise the investigation.

MNS leaderSandeep Deshpande

“Exercise of discretion in favour of the applicants would jeopardise the interest of a fair and effective investigation,” said the single judge bench of justice Nizamuddin Jamadar on November 30, while rejecting pre-arrest bail pleas filed by purported mastermind Shripad Paradkar and accomplice Vinod Pawar. The judge said “custodial interrogation of the applicants” was indispensable to unearth the conspiracy and the persons involved.

The incident for which the duo was arrested occurred on March 3, when four persons attacked Deshpande while he was taking a morning walk at Shivaji Park. The assailants hit him with cricket bats and stumps and abused him, saying he was coming in the way of a leader from some other political party.

After police apprehended the attackers, it became clear that Paradkar and Pawar were the principal confederates in the alleged conspiracy to eliminate the MNS leader. Both of them moved the sessions court after their names cropped up in the investigation, seeking pre-arrest bail. They moved the high court after the lower court rejected their pleas.

Before high court, the duo contended that there was no cogent and acceptable evidence to deprive them of their personal liberty. The only material against them was in the form of disclosure statements of the arrested accused, which had no evidentiary value and could not be used against other accused.

The public prosecutor opposed their pleas and argued that ample material was available in the form of CCTV footage and call records to link the duo with the actual assailants, and the same was corroborated by statements of the co-accused.

Justice Jamadar accepted the prosecutor’s argument after noticing that the disclosure statement given by one of the accused, Ashok Kharat, revealed that Paradkar had instructed him and others to assault Deshpande. Pawar had shown them the place where the MNS leader took a morning walk and given them a cricket bat to assault him.

The judge also took into consideration Paradkar’s past criminal record, including in three cases pertaining to organised crime. “The antecedents of the applicant – Shripad, who is alleged to be the prime conspirator, in my considered view, prima facie lend heft to the prosecution version of criminal conspiracy,” said the judge while rejecting their pleas.