Narendra Dabholkar, a well known anti-superstition activist, was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune while he was on his morning walk.

The Pune sessions court on Friday granted bail to three accused in the rationalist Narendra Dabholkar's murder case as the agency failed to file chargesheet against the accused.

The accused trio, Amol Kale, Rajesh Bangera and Amit Degvekar had moved the Pune sessions court seeking bail as the agency didn't file a chargesheet under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Penal Code.

A source claimed that the lawyer representing CBI failed to appear before the court on Thursday when the application was filed by the accused trio, the court then kept the hearing for Friday to decide on the bail plea. On Friday also, the agency's lawyer wasn't present in court after which the court passed the order in favour of the accused.

CBI had arrested Kale, Degvekar and Bangera in August and had moved a Karnataka court as the accused had been in judicial custody for the Lankesh murder case.

Dabholkar, a well known anti-superstition activist, was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune while he was on his morning walk.

"The agency knew about the bail plea but the lawyer representing the agency did not appear in the court, there was no way that the agency's side could be represented and so the court passed an order granting bail to the accused trio. The agency should have filed an application seeking extension in the filing of the chargesheet in the said sections which would have helped them with more time and the accused wouldn't have secured bail" said a senior advocate privy with the case.

He added, "The bail order will not help the accused get out of jail as they are still accused and will remain in judicial custody in the journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case."

Who are the accused?

Amol Kale is said to be associated with the Hindu Janjagriti Samiti, a sister organisation of the Sanatan Sanstha, and is said to be heading the covert violent operations of the radical right-wing organisation.

Kale was based in Pune and handled operations for Dabholkar, Lankesh murders, he is also suspected to be the brain behind the murders of Kannada scholar-writer MM Kalburgi and rationalist Govind Pansare's.

Bangera was the one who trained the shooters -- Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, involved in the Dabholkar murder.

Degvekar, a sadhak who was based out of the Ponda ashram of Sanatan Sanstha was the one who handled logistical and financial support for the murders executed by this radical group.

The trio is the first to be released on bail in the five-year-old Dabholkar murder case.

(with inputs from Pankaj Khelkar in Pune)