*Bombay High Court grants bail to 5 accused in Nalasopara Arms haul case*

Holding that the evidence prima facie was insufficient to prove charges of conspiracy, the Bombay High Court has granted bail to five accused arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2018 in the alleged Nalasopara Arms haul case.

The bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande, while granting bail to the five accusednoted that the accused had already been behind bars for six years and the chances of the trial against them coming to an end soon was bleak.

The accused, Sujith Kumar Rangaswamy, Amit Ramchandra Baddi, Ganesh Dashrath Miskin, Shrikant Jagannath Pangarkar and Bharat Jaywant Kurane, were arrested for conspiring to attack the Sunburn music festival in Pune, which had already happened in 2017.

Advocates Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, Karan Jain and Sanjiv Punalekar, appearing for the accused, took the court through witness statements and other evidence submitted by the prosecution on its chargesheet.

After going through the details of the case, the bench said, "We have prima facie formed an opinion that these statements are insufficient to establish the charge of conspiracy against the appellants before us."

The prosecution had said that the accused had formed a gang for the purpose of opposing "anti-Hindu elements".

"In order to accomplish this purpose, one of the targets so chosen was a western music/dance function named 'Sunburn' which was to take place in the outskirts of Pune City between December 26 and 31, 2017 for celebrating the year end. It is alleged that the accused planned to disrupt the program by throwing stones, petrol bombs, creating ruckus by use of fire arms, etc," the prosecution said.

The court noted that none of the alleged attacks were actually carried out.

"The Sunburn program was in fact successfully completed without any disturbance, but the arrest in the present case was made in the first week of August 2018, that is eight months after the programme was over," the court said.

It added that the five accused have been arrested in 2018 and as of date only two witnesses have been summoned in the trial. The prosecution intended to examine 417 witnesses in the case.

"The chances of timely completion of trial appear to be bleak. Speedy trial has received recognition of the fundamental right of a person facing accusations," the bench said.

The bench granted all the five accused bail on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each. The court directed them to appear before the ATS's Mumbai office once each month and to also appear before the trial court on each hearing.

The accused have been booked under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code (IPC, Explosives Act and Explosive Substances Act.

The Maharashtra ATS had booked two persons, Sharad Kalaskar and Vaibhav Raut, and raided their residential premises and seized arms, ammunition and explosives from Nalasopara in Thane district, following interrogation.

Based on the two accused's statements, 10 other persons were arrested in the case.

The ATS case was that the accused persons were active members of right wing groups 'Sanatan Sanstha' and 'Hindu Janjagruti Samiti' and they were influenced by the philosophy of creation of a 'Hindu Rashtra'.

While Raut had been granted bail by the High Court earlier, there are five more accused, including Kalaskar, who are incarcerated in the case.