Techie murder case: Fringe Hindu leader Desai released on bail

Pune, February 9

A Hindu leader suspected in the 2014 murder of a Muslim software engineer in communal clashes that broke out in Pune’s Hadapsar walked out of prison on conditional bail on Saturday.

Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) chief Dhananjay Desai is one of the 21 people arrested for murdering the 28-year-old techie Mohsin Shaikh on June 2, 2014, when communal clashes had broken out after some supposedly “objectionable pictures” of Maratha king Shivaji and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray circulated.

The Bombay High Court gave him conditional bailon January 17.

Several of Desai’s supporters flocked to Yerawada Central Jail, where he was kept, to greet him on Saturday afternoon.

Other suspects in the case were also members of the same fringe Hindutva organisation—the HRS. All other suspects have already been granted bail.

Desai, who was arrested in 2014, said in his undertaking to the high court that he would get involved in HRS activities and would not pressure or try to influence witnesses until police finish their investigations. Agencies