india

Updated: Jan 15, 2019 15:32 IST

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 associates be shifted from the Central Prison in Bengaluru to the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Justice Mridula Bhatkar issued the directive on a petition filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) 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 the 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, attracting sections 16, 18 and 20 of the UAPA, section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, and also section 9B of the explosives act. He further pointed out the ATS has seized 12 crude bombs, 16 pistols and several items from the alleged possession of the accused in the case, but the special court had refused to extend ATS custody of the trio beyond October 12, 2018.

Thakare further said that the trio were arrested in connection with Lankesh murder case and are currently lodged in Bengaluru, and requested the court to order their transfer to Arthur Road Prison on the grounds that the investigation in Lankesh case was over and the charge-sheet had been filed.

Justice Bhaskar accepted his request and ordered the trio be transferred with appropriate police escort. The court has now issued notices to the three and posted the ATS plea for further hearing on January 28.

Kale is also an accused in the 2013 killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune. Last September, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the Dabholkar murder, told a court that Kale supplied revolver that was eventually used to shoot the veteran writer and rationalist. Lankesh was gunned down in her home in September 2017 with investigators saying her murder is linked to the killings of Dabholkar, rationalist MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in 2015 and communist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur the same year.