Lohariya murder case: HC grants bail to prime accused

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted bail to Fransis Devraj Chouri, the prime accused in the murder of builder Sunil Kumar Lohariya

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted bail to Fransis Devraj Chouri, the prime accused in the murder of builder Sunil Kumar Lohariya. The bail was granted on the grounds of his long incarceration.

Justice MS Karnik observed that Chouri has spent more than 9-and-half years behind bars and that the trial will take some more time to complete. The court has ordered the release on furnishing a personal bond of ₹30,000 and one or two sureties in the same amount. (HT PHOTO)

Justice MS Karnik observed that Chouri has spent more than 9-and-half years behind bars and that the trial will take some more time to complete. The court has ordered the release on furnishing a personal bond of ₹30,000 and one or two sureties in the same amount. Chouri was arrested on April 2, 2013, and has been behind bars since then.

According to the prosecution, the incident took place on February 16, 2013, when two assailants shot dead the prominent builder, pursuant to a conspiracy hatched by at least 14 persons. Lohariya was attacked by two assailants outside his office. While one of them shot at him from point-blank range, the others assaulted the deceased with a chopper.

Chouri was allegedly a stand-by attacker and was supposed to step in and shoot the deceased builder to death if the two assailants failed to complete the task entrusted to them.

He had moved a bail plea before the high court contending that two of his co-accused had been released on bail primarily on account of their long incarceration. While Arif Gulam Dastgir Shaikh had been granted bail by the Supreme Court in June 2022, Kailas Balaji Gummaneh was granted bail by the Bombay high court two months later on the same ground.

Sandeep Lohariya – the son of the deceased – had opposed Chouri’s bail plea, contending that the trial was now at a crucial stage as 66 witnesses were already examined. Apart from apprehending threats to his own life and the lives of his family members, he also claimed that there was every possibility of the applicant tampering with the witnesses.

Dealing with the submissions made on behalf of Chouri that only 66 of the 199 prosecution witnesses had been examined so far and the trial will take a long time to complete, special public prosecutor AS Pai informed the court that the prosecution intended to examine not all the 199 witnesses, but only 20-25 more witnesses.

The arguments, however, failed to impress upon justice Karnik, who took into consideration the orders passed by the Supreme Court and the high court granting bail to the two accused and granted bail to Chouri. The court has, however, restrained him from entering into Thane district and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation area, except for attending the trial.