Justice Mridula Bhatkar on January 12 granted bail to Vijay Gambhire, Ganesh Yadav and Ajay Lalge, accused of murdering 28-year-old Mohsin Shaikh on June 2, 2014 in Pune.
Before the incident, the trio had attended a meeting of Hindu Rashtra Sena to protest against defiling of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
According to prosecution, the three accused armed with hockey sticks and bats roamed the streets on the night of June 2 when they came across Shaikh. The trio then attacked him.
"I consider this factor in favour of the accused. Moreover the accused do not have any criminal record and it appears that they were provoked in the name of religion," Justice Bhatkar said.
The court, while granting the accused bail on a surety of Rs 40,000 each, said the accused in future should stay clear and not associate themselves with such groups like Hindu Rashtra Sena.
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