A Mumbai court has granted bail to local businessman Mauris Noronha's bodyguard, whose pistol was allegedly used in the murder of Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Abhishek Ghosalkar here nearly five months ago, noting his complicity in the commission of the crime was "highly doubtful".
The bail plea of the accused bodyguard, Amarendra Singh, was allowed by additional sessions court judge V M Pathade on June 26.
The court, in the order made available on Monday, observed it didn't find any material collected by police "which would reasonably suggest" Singh's complicity in acts leading to the death of the Sena-UBT leader and Noronha, who committed suicide after allegedly killing Ghosalkar during a Facebook live in suburban Borivali (West).
Singh had sought bail for a second time after filing of a chargesheet by the Mumbai police.
In his plea, Noronha's bodyguard sought relief claiming the police document doesn't say that he hatched any conspiracy leading to the crime.
Singh, whose pistol was allegedly used in the murder of the Sena-UBT leader, was arrested and booked under IPC Section 302 (murder), relevant provisions of the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act.
The bail order said it doesn't appear from the FIR that at the relevant time Singh was present at the crime spot.
"There is no acceptable material which would demonstrate presence of the accused at or near the place of incident so as to infer his complicity in the incident which ultimately resulted in the death of Ghosalkar and Mauris," the judge noted.
The court stressed that if Singh was a part of any criminal conspiracy to kill Ghosalkar, it would not have resulted in the death of Noronha, a Mumbai-based businessman and social worker.
The judge said he did not find any "material collected by the investigating agency which would reasonably suggest Singh's complicity "in the acts which caused the death of Ghosalkar and Mauris", except the facts that at the relevant time he was an armed bodyguard of Mauris and his firearm was used in the killing and the subsequent suicide.
The court noted Singh is under detention for more than last four-and-a-half months, and "his complicity in the commission of offence punishable under IPC Section 302 (murder) is highly doubtful".
Noronha fatally shot Ghosalkar during Facebook Live in February and then killed himself. Noronha, who faced many criminal cases, was earlier arrested in a rape case and spent nearly five months in jail.
While there was a tussle between Ghosalkar (40) and Noronha, who had political aspirations, the latter suspected the former had implicated him in the rape case, his wife had told the police after the incident
