Govind Pansare Murder: Bombay HC Allows State Cancellation Of Virendrasinh Tawde’s Bail Plea

The Maharashtra government recently retracted its application in the Bombay High Court seeking cancellation of Virendrasinh Tawde’s bail in the murder of Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare.

A single bench of Justice Bharathi Dangre was hearing the matter.

Aruna Pai, Chief Public Prosecutor, informed the bench that the state will file a new application in the Sessions Court of Kolhapur seeking the termination of Tawde’s bail.

Previously, the Kolhapur Sessions Court denied the State’s application for bail cancellation; nevertheless, the State appealed to the high court based on the supplemental chargesheet.

In view of a Supreme Court decision that ruled a second application for bail cancellation might be filed based on additional evidence, the single bench permitted the state government to drop the plea.

“They are seeking to withdraw with liberty to file a fresh application before the trial court. They are permitted to do so, if permissible in law, if ground is available for cancellation of bail”, the order stated.

At the earlier hearings before the order of the Supreme Court which said that fresh applications can be made on additional grounds, the high court had questioned the state if additional material can be a ground for cancellation of bail.

It is worth noting that the order passed by the Supreme Court was an appeal against the order of Justice Bharathi Dangre which was allowed by the Supreme Court.

On February 16, 2015, Pansare was fatally shot in Kolhapur and later passed away. The matter was initially investigated by local police but was subsequently referred to the CID SIT owing to a lack of progress.

In 2022, the ATS took up the investigation after several years, and most recently, a Kolhapur court filed charges against 10 people, including Tawade. Nevertheless, due to his prolonged incarceration without a hearing, Tawade was granted release by the Kolhapur Sessions Court.

The state government filed an appeal against the decision before the High Court to have the bail canceled.