HC asks AMC president to be present in court on Dec 15

Mumbai, Dec 13 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today directed Ambarnath Municipal Council (AMC) president and Shiv Sena member Gulabrao Karanjule, accused of murder, to remain present in the court on December 15, when the case will come up for further hearing.

A division bench, comprising Justices S B Mhase and S R Sathe, was hearing a petition filed by one Shivaji Nanashinde, owner of a sugarcane juice shop at Ambarnath, accusing Karanjule and his accomplice of murdering his teenaged son Shailesh.

The investigating officer submitted before the court that they had sent three parties across Maharashtra to catch absconding Karanjule, but he was untraceable.

However, Karanjule's counsel Abaad Ponda contended that his client was very much here and his statement had already been recorded twice by the police.

According to the petitioner's case, Karanjule is constructing a building on a plot adjacent to his residence. On October 26, Shivaji's wife apparently threw some garbage that fell on the head of one of the security guards at the plot, leading to a quarrel between the two. Shailesh too got involved in the same.

Later in the afternoon, while Shivaji was at his shop and Shailesh was cleaning some cane outside, he heard a sudden noise and went out to see if there is any problem. He found Shailesh lying on the ground and bleeding from the stomach.

He also saw two people running away -- one with a pistol and another with a country-made revolver.

Shailesh later succumbed to his injury at a local hospital.

Shivaji identified the two persons as Karanjule and Rakesh Yadav, the security guard.

Both were booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act. Yadav was arrested, while Karanjule is still free despite the Kalyan court rejecting his anticipatory bail appeal on October 30.

The petitioner alleged that Karanjule has threatened the witnesses and the police are shielding him.

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