A significant development has emerged as all 12 suspects arrested in the murder case of communist thinker and senior leader Comrade Govind Pansare have now been granted bail. The remaining three accused – Dr. Virendra Tawde, Amol Kale, and Sharad Kalaskar – have been granted bail by the Kolhapur Circuit Bench of the Mumbai High Court.
In addition to these three, 9 accused had already been granted bail earlier. The remaining three were in Kolhapur's Kalamba prison without bail. In today's hearing, the court approved the bail applications of these three as well, and thus all the accused in this case are now released on bail.
Against this backdrop, the Sanatan Sanstha expressed a strong reaction, asking, “Who will compensate for the nine and a half years of innocent Hindutva loyalists?” According to the organization, the accused were unnecessarily imprisoned.
What is the massacre?
On February 20, 2015, Govind Pansare was shot near his home in Kolhapur. He died a few days later. This incident was linked to the series of murders of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, M. M. Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh. The names of many suspects emerged in this investigation, but the investigative agencies consistently failed to obtain conclusive evidence.
After some accused were arrested in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, the investigation into the Pansare case gained momentum. However, following today's decision, the efficiency of the investigative agencies has once again been questioned. After this decision, the entire state is focused on the next legal developments in the case.