The Bombay High Court on Thursday relaxed bail conditions of Vikram Bhave, an accused in the 2013 murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, allowing him to travel to Ratnagiri for three weeks following his father's death due to Covid-19. Bhave can go to Ratnagiri on July 17 and return to Pune by August 10. He is currently out on bail. While granting him bail on May 6, the HC had said that Bhave cannot leave the jurisdiction of the trial court in Pune. A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice N J Jamadar was hearing a plea filed by Bhave seeking relaxation in his bail conditions after his father died last month. His lawyer Virendra Ichalkaranjikar informed the court that Bhave will have to perform the remaining final rites and complete bank procedures in Ratnagiri. While allowing Bhave to visit Ratnagiri for three weeks, the HC asked him to report at Devrukh police station in Sangameshwar Taluka once in week, preferably on Sundays. Bhave is accused of helping the alleged sharpshooters in conducting a recce of the area where Dabholkar was killed in August 2013, nearly 15 days before the murder. He was arrested by the CBI on May 25, 2019.
