Suresh Dube murder case: Bhai Thakur, 2 others acquitted of TADA charges

Dube, a builder from Vasai Virar area, was gunned down at Nallasopara railway station on October 9, 1989, by a group of five to six assailants. In the investigation, police had booked as many as 17 people, all allegedly linked to the crime syndicate of Bhai Thakur which was dreaded in Vasai Virar area at the time.

Around three years into the probe, the stringent anti-terror legislation TADA was invoked in the case and the trial was transferred to Pune. Bhai Thakur himself and some others remained absconding initially and were not chargesheeted. The trial court acquitted all 17 people in the late 1990s.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal of six of them and convicted them for the murder in 2000. The six convicted at the time were identified as Narendra Bhoir, Ulhas Rane, Dnyaneshwar Patil, Patrick Tuscano, Rajaram Jadhav and Manik Patil. Six more accused in the case, including Bhai Thakur and five others Sanjay Kadu, Gajanan Patil, Deepak Thakur, Bhaskar Thakur and Ananda Padekar were arrested and chargesheeted in the case. Their trial commenced in Pune court in the early 2010s. During the trial, Sanjay Kadu, Bhaskar Thakur and Ananda Padekar passed away. The court of Additional Sessions Judge S R Navandar on Wednesday acquitted the remaining three accused Bhai Thakur, Gajanan Patil and Deepak Thakur.

Advocate Rohan Nahar, one of the defence lawyers for the accused, said, “The court observed that the evidence was insufficient to prove the charges under TADA of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. The court also observed that allegations of land grabbing made against the accused were not at par with the offences under TADA.”

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Advocate Satish Mishra was the public prosecutor in the case while advocates Sudhir Shah, Rohan Nahar, Pritesh Kharade, Sachin Patil and Rohit Tulpule were defence lawyers.