Conditional bail granted to Vikram Bhave, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to murder Dr. Narendra Dabholkar

Mumbai – The author of the book ‘Invisible hand behind Malegaon bomb blast’ and a member of the Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, Mr. Vikram Bhave was granted conditional bail by the Bombay High Court on 6^th May.

Mr. Bhave was arrested on 25^th May 2019 on the charge of helping Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar do a recce. The Court had reserved its decision after hearing the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had moved the Court seeking stay of Mr. Bhave’s bail; however, the application was rejected. A Division Bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale passed the order.

While granting bail to Mr. Bhave, the Court imposed further restrictions – a bond of Rs. 1 lakh and 1-2 guarantors of the same amount. He will not be allowed to go outside the jurisdiction of the NIA Court, be present at the Police station regularly for a week and then twice-a-week for the next 2 months, till the completion of the trial. Mr. Bhave’s passport will be handed over to the Central Investigation Department. Witnesses should not be pressured in any way, he should not contact the victim’s family in any way and should not tamper with evidence, and should not be involved in any crime. “Violation of any of these conditions will result in cancellation of bail”, the Bench said.

Details of case

1. Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar were the main accused in Dabholkar murder case. Investigation said that Dr. Virendrasinh Tawde had assisted them.

2. The investigation team later arrested Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar saying that they were the main accused in Dabholkar murder case.

3. Adv. Sanjeev Punalekar and Mr. Bhave were arrested eight and a half months after the alleged statement of Sharad Kalaskar on 12th October 2018.

Whose invisible hand is trying to implicate Mr. Vikram Bhave ? : Asks Adv. Virendra Ichalkaranjikar (National President, HVP)

Bail granted to Mr. Bhave, author and a RTI Activist by the Bombay High Court is certainly welcome. Mr. Bhave has exposed many scams in the Banganga Project. This battle is not yet over. Even in 2013, there was a failed attempt to implicate Mr. Bhave. Whose in-visible hand is trying to bomimplicate him ? This must be discovered now.