Mumbai: Refusing to grant bail to a businessman who is an accused in the Gadchiroli Naxal attack of 2019, the Bombay High Court has observed that prima facie there is enough evidence to show that he “knowingly facilitated the commission of a terrorist act” in which 15 police personnel lost their lives.
The court also noted that mere delay in the trial pertaining to grave offences, by itself cannot be a ground to enlarge an accused on bail, dehors the facts. The court has dismissed the bail plea by Kailash Ramchandani, 38, a businessman from Kurkheda in Gadchiroli.
“The statements on record show that the appellant (Ramchandani) was in touch with the naxals; that he would visit the jungle and had informed the co-accused of the passing of the police vehicle on the fateful day. Thus, we find that the appellant had knowingly facilitated the commission of a terrorist act,” a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha Deshpande said. The order was passed on March 5, however, the detailed order copy was made available on Wednesday.
The incident involved burning of 27 vehicles of an infrastructure company and detonation of a pressure bomb in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli in May 2019 killing 15 police personnel and one civilian, on May 1, 2019.
Ramchandani was arrested in 2019. He had sought bail not only on merits but even on parity and delay in the commencement of the trial. Relying on statements of several witnesses, the HC noted that the evidence prima facie points to Ramchandani’s complicity in the alleged crime.
Ramchandani is accused of passing on information about vehicular movements of the Quick Response Team (QRT) personnel on the day of the incident.
“It is evident that mere delay in the trial pertaining to grave offences, by itself cannot be a ground to enlarge an accused on bail, dehors the facts. We cannot be oblivious of the fact that 15 police personnel were killed in a mine blast, which took place on 1st May 2019,” the bench remarked.
The court relied on the statements of witnesses who stated that Ramchandani often met a known alleged naxal, Parasram Tulavi, and the two would go to the forest with supplies. One of the statements was of Tulavi’s son who identified Ramchandani as having visited his father and supplied with some “wires”.
On July 15, 2022, the HC had granted bail to co-accused Satyanarayana Rani, husband of alleged Maoist leader and co-accused late Nirmala Uppuganti. However, Rani, 72, is suffering from various health issues. The HC dismissed the arguments of parity.
Ramchandani was arrested in 2019. He has been charged under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act.
The court has clarified that its observations are on for deciding the bail plea. It has directed the trial court to frame charges in the case and complete trial expeditiously.
