Mumbai: Vijay Palande, who is cooling his heels in jail in a series of murder cases, today received a setback as the Bombay High court cancelled bail granted to him in 2007, in a murder case of a city businessman.
Hearing Maharashtra government`s petition seeking cancellation of Palande`s bail in the case of murder of city-based businessman Swaraj Ranjandas, Justices P V Hardas and Abhay Thipsay held that Palande had indulged in serious offences including three murders, after he got liberty.
Palande was arrested in August 1998 for kidnapping and murdering Ranjandas.
In December 2002, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. On December 7, 2007, the High Court, while hearing his appeal, granted him bail after he pleaded that he had been in jail for nine years.
However, he escaped the next year while out on parole, granted to him for 60 days, and remained absconding from 2003 to 2006.
Additional Public Prosecutor S ManKunwar Deshmukh argued that Palande had misused liberty granted to him by committing seven serious offences, including three murders, after getting bail in 2007. Hence, his bail should be cancelled.
Palande, however, argued that he was granted bail on condition that he would report to D N Nagar police station which he did. Hence, he had not violated the bail condition.
However, the government argued that he had misused his liberty by committing serious crimes after getting bail and law does not permit a person to commit crimes.
Accepting the government`s argument, the court cancelled his bail.
Palande is already in custody for the murders of Delhi-based businessman Arun Kumar Tikku in Mumbai, aspiring film producer Karan Kakkad, also in Mumbai, and an unknown person whose body was found in Chiplun ghats of Ratagiri district in 2011.
However, his girlfriend and model Simran Sood, who was arrested along with Palande in murder cases, recently got bail.
PTI
