Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a man, Khalil Peshkar, and his two sons – Vasim Khan and Nasimm Khan – who were arrested for the murder of Juhu-based builder Munaf Shaikh in August 2020. He was murdered allegedly due to business and personal rivalry pertaining to a slum area redevelopment project.
The court noted that from the evidence produced by the prosecution, “prima facie it cannot be said that there is clinching material to show the involvement of the bail applicants in the conspiracy to eliminate deceased Munaf”.
Munaf was stabbed to death outside the Irla mosque for morning prayers on August 9, 2020. The Juhu police arrested builder Ashok Chajaad, another developer Abdul Rehman Abdul Latif Shaikh alias Sonu Azmi and Nadim Shaikh, who allegedly carried out the attack, on charges of murder. The police later arrested Vasim Khan, who allegedly revealed the involvement of his father Khalil Peshkar and his brother Nasimm Khan, both developers.
Prosecution claimed that the accused hatched a conspiracy to kill Munaf over business rivalry. Total six persons were arrested. Of these, Sonu Azmi and the alleged main conspirator Chhajed have been granted bail by the high court earlier in 2022.
Advocates for the accused, Aabad Ponda and Sana Khan, submitted that as per HC order granting bail to Chhajed, there was a reasonable possibility of him not being held guilty in the present case and no motive could be attributed to him for hatching a conspiracy. Hence, their clients too should get benefit of the 2022 bail order as they are mere co-conspirators, and the entire prosecution story prima facie collapses in the face of the high court’s findings.
Justice Manish Pitale, on August 7, remarked that “there is lack of incriminating material to link the applicants with the conspiracy to eliminate deceased Munaf”.
Further, the HC noted that the prosecution has given a list of 112 witnesses, and there is no indication as to when the trial will begin. “.. hence, completion of trial will not take place in the foreseeable future, therefore a case is made out for enlarging the applicants on bail,” Justice Pitale said while directing their release on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each.
