Gauri Lankesh murder accused to be shifted

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court ordered on Monday that Amol Kale, one of the accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017, and two of his alleged accomplices be shifted from central prison in Bengaluru to Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Justice Mridula Bhatkar issued the directive on a petition filed by the Maharashtra AntiTerrorist Squad, seeking further custody of the trio in Nallasopara arms haul case, in which stockpiles of crude bombs, explosives and firearms were found during raids in the Palghar suburb on August 9, 2018 .

The trio — Kale, Anil Baddie and Ganesh Muslim — was originally arrested by ATS on October 6, 2018 in connection with the haul. They were produced before a special court on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the special court granted ATS their custody till October 12, 2018. Counsel for the ATS, advocate Raja Thakare, had pointed out that the accused are booked for serious offences under the UAPA, the Indian Penal Code and also the explosives act. He also pointed out ATS has arms and explosives from the alleged possession of the accused in the case, but the special court had refused to extend ATS custody beyond October 12, 2018. Raja requested the court to transfer them Arthur Road Prison on the grounds that the probe in Lankesh case was over and the charge-sheet had been filed. Justice Bhaskar accepted his request and ordered the transfer.