A Vacation Bench comprising Justices CT Ravikumar and Manoj Misra noted that only one out of 109 witnesses had been examined so far, prompting them to grant relief to the accused, Ganesh.
NEW DELHI: Today (2nd July): The Supreme Court granted bail to an auto-rickshaw driver accused of murder, who had spent six years in jail due to a prolonged trial.
A Vacation Bench comprising Justices CT Ravikumar and Manoj Misra noted that only one out of 109 witnesses had been examined so far, prompting them to grant relief to the accused, Ganesh.
Advocates Shivam Singh and Kailas Bajirao Autade represented the accused, while Advocate Aaditya Aniruddha Pande appeared for the State of Maharashtra.
The case involved an appeal against an August 2023 Bombay High Court order that had refused bail to Ganesh. It was highlighted that the chargesheet was filed in April 2018 after his arrest in January of that year. However, the charges were yet to be framed, and the trial had barely begun.
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Ganesh argued that he was merely driving the auto-rickshaw at the time of the incident and was not involved in any criminal conspiracy with the passengers who committed the murder. He relied on the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Indrani Mukerjea case to support his appeal.
After hearing the arguments, the Supreme Court granted bail to Ganesh.
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Case Title: Ganesh @ Pintya Bhaskar Jogdand v State of Maharashtra
