Abhishek Ghosalkar murder: Mumbai court rejects bail plea of Mauris Noronha’s bodyguard

While the sessions court rejected the bail application last week, the order copy was made available on Tuesday.

The court said an investigation is needed to ascertain whether Mishra was behind providing Noronha a gun.

On February 8, Noronha had allegedly killed Ghosalkar during a social media live session. He had pumped five bullets into Ghosalkar and then died by suicide, the police said. The next day, February 9, the police arrested Mishra as it was alleged that his gun was used in the crime.

Amarendra Mishra, the bodyguard of Mauris Noronha, being taken to court. (File Photo)

In a recent bail application, Mishra said he had nothing to do with the murder.

He also said that he used to keep his licensed gun, acquired as a bodyguard, in a locker provided by Noronha.

The plea said that the FIR did not have any incriminating material against him to show that he was involved in the murder.

The court, in its order, said, “According to the applicant (Mishra), he used to keep the firearm gun in the locker which was provided by the deceased Mauris Noronha to him. Therefore, it appears that if the gun was kept in the locker, then key of the locker must be with the applicant. It is not the case that locker was broken by Mauris Noronha. Therefore, necessarily facts prima facie show that access to the gun was provided by the applicant.”

The court added that Mishra was aware that Noronha had invited Ghosalkar to his office that evening. “He (Mishra) was also knowing the fact that his gun is not with him, though he is the bodyguard of Mauris Noronha. There was previous enmity between Mauris Noronha and Abhishek Ghosalkar. All these circumstances are material and are required to be considered to verify the role of the applicant. The allegations levelled against the applicant appears to be reasonable to consider that the applicant must have some role in the crime,” the court said.

The court added that Mishra is the only person who can explain the circumstances of the crime and the probe is still on at a preliminary stage.

During the hearing of the bail application, the court had also given an opportunity to the intervenor, Tejasvee, wife of Ghosalkar, who opposed Mishra’s plea stating that there is a risk of tampering the evidence.

It was also alleged that the facts showed that bullets for the gun were purchased by Noronha and Mishra together and that a probe is needed on whether the murder was pre-planned.