The Kolhapur bench of the Bombay High Court has granted bail to Sharad Kalaskar and Amol Kale, two accused in the 2015 assassination case of rationalist and activist Govind Pansare. The court based its decision on the grounds of prolonged incarceration and the legal principle of parity, as several co-accused in the same case have already been released on bail.
Justice Shivkumar Dige, who passed the order, noted that Kalaskar and Kale had been in judicial custody for over six and seven years, respectively. He observed that with only 29 of the 231 witnesses examined so far, the trial was likely to take a considerable amount of time to conclude.
Govind Pansare and his wife were attacked by unidentified assailants on February 16, 2015, while returning home in Kolhapur. Pansare later succumbed to his injuries, while his wife survived the shooting. The case, filed at the Rajarampuri Police Station, includes charges of murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, abetment, destruction of evidence, and violations under the Arms Act.
According to the prosecution, Sharad Kalaskar was allegedly trained in arms fabrication and explosives handling, including the making of pipe bombs, petrol bombs, and hand grenades. He was said to have participated in several conspiracy meetings and later destroyed incriminating evidence such as mobile phones and diaries. Kalaskar had also been convicted in the 2013 murder of rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and is serving a life sentence. He is additionally linked to the 2018 Nalasopara arms haul and the Gauri Lankesh murder cases.
Amol Kale, on the other hand, was accused of maintaining contact with absconding suspects Sarang Akolkar and the alleged mastermind, Virendrasinh Tawade. Investigators claimed that a diary recovered from Kale contained coded references to bomb-making, names of associates, and contact numbers. He was also purportedly present in Kolhapur on the day of the Pansare murder.
The defence, however, argued that the prosecution had failed to establish any direct connection between the accused and the 2015 killing. They also questioned the allegation that the duo stayed at a Kolhapur lodge under false identities in 2018—three years after the crime—saying it bore no relevance to the case. Citing the release of similarly placed co-accused such as Amit Degvekar, Vasudev Suryawanshi, Bharat Kurne, and Sachin Andure, the defence pressed for equal treatment under the principle of parity.
After reviewing the case documents and hearing both sides, Justice Dige concluded that the circumstances justified bail. “Similarly placed accused have already been granted bail, and it may take a long time to conclude the trial,” the court observed.
As per the order, Amol Kale will be released following the completion of bail formalities. Sharad Kalaskar, however, will remain in prison since he is serving a life sentence in the Dabholkar murder case. His appeal against that conviction is still pending before the Bombay High Court.
The decision marks a notable turn in the prolonged and politically sensitive Pansare murder investigation, which has faced repeated delays due to its complexity, the number of accused, and the interlinking of multiple high-profile cases involving attacks on rationalists and activists across India.
