Mumbai – Sharad Kalaskar, an accused in the murder case of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The decision was delivered on 29 April by a Division Bench comprising Justice A. S. Gadkari and Justice Ranjitsingh Bhosale, with Justice Bhosale appearing via virtual mode.
Sharad Kalaskar had been taken into custody by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in August 2018. Senior Advocate Nitin Pradhan, Advocate Shubhada Khot, and Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar appeared for him. Other advocates representing the accused in the case include Advocate Siddhavidya, Advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay, Advocate Subhash Jha, Advocate Suvarna Awhad-Vats, and Advocate Sachin Kanse.
It may be noted that on 10 May 2024, a special court in Pune acquitted Dr Virendra Tawde, Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, and Vikram Bhave in the same case. However, Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure were convicted by the same trial court and sentenced to life imprisonment
The Bombay High Court suspended his life sentence pending appeal and granted bail on a bond of ₹50,000, citing doubts over his identification as one of the assailants and concerns about the reliability of eyewitness testimony and the CBI investigation. The CBI’s request for a stay on the order was rejected.