MUMBAI, April 30 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Sharad Kalaskar, one of the two gunmen convicted in the 2013 murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, expressing doubts over the manner in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) secured his identification by witnesses. A division bench of justices AS Gadkari and RR Bhosale suspended the life sentence imposed on Kalaskar by a Pune sessions court and granted him bail, observing that the prosecution's case relied heavily on unreliable witnesses. The court also took into account Kalaskar's long incarceration of over eight years. Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead on August 20, 2013, during a morning walk in Pune. He had been a key figure in pushing for the state government's anti-superstition legislation. Organisations such as Sanatan Sanstha and its sister outfits were said to have opposed the bill, and were also accused of spreading hatred against Dabholkar due to ideological differences. The offence was initially registered at Deccan Police Station in Pune before the probe was transferred to the CBI. According to the prosecution, the killing was carried out by two assailants on a motorcycle, later identified as Kalaskar and Sachin Andure, both allegedly linked to the Sanstha. Kalaskar was arrested on September 3, 2018, and was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on May 10, 2024, by a trial court in Pune. In January 2025, six other accused, Sachin Andure, Ganesh Miskin, Amit Degvekar, Amit Baddi, Bharat Kurane and Vasudev Suryavanshi, were granted bail on the grounds of prolonged incarceration and the unlikelihood of the trial concluding in the near future. Of the 12 accused identified in the case, nine have been arrested so far, with four supplementary chargesheets filed. While the trial against these nine accused is ongoing, two of the alleged shooters remain absconding. During the hearing, senior advocate Niteen Pradhan and advocate Shubhada Khot, appearing for Kalaskar, argued that he was named as an assailant only in a later chargesheet filed in 2019 without "any valid and cogent reason". They further contended that no test identification parade (TIP) was conducted, thereby undermining the evidentiary value of his identification under the Indian Evidence Act. According to the defence, Kalaskar was identified on the basis of photographs shown to witnesses while he was already in custody. Opposing the plea, special public prosecutor Amit Munde, appearing for the CBI, submitted that the prosecution had relied substantially on eyewitness accounts. He argued that identification through photographs does not, by itself, invalidate the evidence. "Even if the TIP was conducted by showing photographs, no prejudice is caused to the case of prosecution," he said. The court, however, flagged inconsistencies in the testimony of key witnesses, noting thatthey claimed to have seen the incident from balconies located about 500 metres away. Itfurther observed that since the prosecution attempted toestablish Kalaskar's identity by showing his photographs to witnesses while he was already in custody, "the identification loses its sanctity"....