BRIEF REPRIEVE - HC grants bail to co-accused in MNS leader's murder case

PUNE: The Bombay high court has granted conditional bail to one of the accused in the murder of

Mangesh

alias Bunty Dnyaneshwar Walunj, the Maval taluka president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The murder, which took place during grampanchayat elections in

Kamshet

on August 4, 2015, was a fallout of rivalry between two groups.
Asingle judge bench of Justice Sadhana S Jadhav observed in an order on Monday that the presence of the (bail) applicant, Mukesh alias Mukanda Hiraman Shinde, at the polling booth was the only incriminating circumstance against him and, hence, he deserved to be enlarged on bail. The bench, however, clarified that its observation was restricted to the bail application only.

The court directed that Mukesh be released on bail against a personal release bond of Rs 50,000 and one or more solvent sureties of the like amount. The bench further restrained him from staying in Maval taluka till the conclusion of the murder trial and directed him to report to the Shivajinagar police station in Pune every Sunday , between 10am and noon.

In July, the high court had rejected the bail application of key accused Abhimanyu Shinde, who continues to be in judicial custody . Mukesh's lawyer had argued that there was no specific overt act attributed to him and his presence at the scene of offence cannot be said to be an incriminating circumstance as it was a polling day and Mukesh was a voter in the electoral roll of Kamshet.

Some days preceding the murder, a sessions court had acquitted Mangesh Walunj in a trial relating to the murder of one Bharat Shinde. The two families were since at loggerheads. During the Kamshet panchayat polls, Mangesh and his associates were on a visit to a polling booth around 11am.

An hour later when Mangesh proceeded to the parking place to board his car, a group of eight assailants, including key accused Shekhar Shinde and Abhimanyu, both of whom carried revolvers, launched an attack on Mangesh, who later died of bullet injuries.

The victim's brother, Sonu alias Yogesh, lodged an FIR with the Wadgaon Maval police. In a supplementary statement which he recorded later the same evening, Yogesh mentioned the name of Mukesh and the latter was arrested on August 8 as a co-accused in the case.

The public prosecutor opposed Mukesh's bail plea, arguing that he was a close relative of Shekhar Shinde and, therefore, it should be inferred that he had the knowledge about Shekhar's murder plan. The bench dismissed this argument by observing, “Such a far-fetched inference cannot be drawn.“


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