Sena leader's murder: Mumbai court says allegations against accused's bodyguard 'reasonable'

Mumbai: A court has here observed that the allegations levelled against the bodyguard of Mauris Noronha, whose pistol was used to kill Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar, "appear to be reasonable".

Additional sessions judge Rajesh Sasne made the observation on March 5 while denying bail to Amarendra Mishra, who was arrested under the Arms Act.

Mishra was booked under section 29 (B) of the Arms Act, which deals with the offence of handing over a weapon to someone without ascertaining if the person is legally permitted to possess it.

The detailed order was available on Tuesday.

The court said that it needs to be investigated whether Mishra provided the gun to Noronha and had entered into a conspiracy to kill Ghosalkar.

Noronha, a local businessman and 'social worker', had allegedly used Mishra's weapon to kill Ghosalkar during a Facebook live session in suburban Borivali last month and later killed himself.

In his bail application, Mishra claimed that he was innocent and falsely implicated in the case.

The prosecution alleged that Noronha had used Mishra's gun to shoot Ghosalkar and the duo had conspired to commit the murder.

After hearing both sides, the court said prima facie, it appears that Noronha killed Ghosalkar using a gun belonging to his bodyguard.

Mishra has provided a copy of the gun licence, it said.

Mishra has claimed that he kept the firearm in a locker Noronha had provided him. Therefore, it appears that if the gun was kept in the locker then the key to it must have been with the accused, the judge noted.

It is not the case that Noronha had broken into the locker, he said.

There was substance in the prosecution's contention that Mishra had handed over the gun to Noronha, the court said.

It also noted that Noronha and Mishra had together purchased the bullets for the gun.

"The allegations levelled against the applicant appear to be reasonable to consider that he must have some role in the crime. The fact requires to be investigated whether the applicant, by providing the gun to Noronha, was in a criminal conspiracy to kill Ghosalkar," the court stated.

Noronha, who faced many cases, was earlier arrested in a rape case and spent nearly five months behind bars.

While there was a tussle between Ghosalkar (40) and Noronha, who had political aspirations, the latter suspected the former had implicated him in the rape case, his wife told the police.