No pre-arrest bail for Congress leader in ‘plot to kill’ Maharashtra ex-minister Handore

On February 22 Justice Sarang V Kotwal rejected a bail petition filed by Nilesh Shyam Nanche, a member of the Congress’s Mumbai committee and president of the party’s Chembur slum cell, observing that his custodial interrogation was necessary not only to investigate the case but also to “prevent the commission of a serious offence”.

According to a case booked on January 7 at the Tilak Nagar police station, Handore was told by a man identified as Sandeep Gore in December 2021 that Nanche had offered him Rs3 crore (Rs25 lakh of it upfront) and two flats in return for killing him before the elections. Nanche is alleged to have assured Gore of his release from jail within one year of the hit job if he gets arrested.

Gore allegedly agreed to accept the offer but realised his “big mistake” later and decided against going ahead. According to the first information report, Nanche kept calling Gore but he leaked the former’s plan to Handore. On the same day another man, Dhata Mishra, allegedly came to Handore’s office to warn him that Nanche had already spoken to a dumper driver about killing him.

Advocate Prashant V Malik, appearing for Nanche, rejected the allegations saying his client was not in Mumbai in the last week of December 2021, when the conspiracy was alleged to have taken place. Nanche was framed because of previous enmity, the counsel argued.

Though Malik also argued that Gore’s claims were inconsistent with those of Dhata, the judge held that they were similar. “Thus the investigating agency has definite material against the present applicant in the form of these two witnesses… No case for grant of anticipatory bail is made out. The application is rejected,” he said.