Bombay HC tells CBI to probe murder of Uddhav Sena leader during Facebook Live
Abhishek Ghosalkar was shot dead allegedly by an old rival named Mauris Noronha on February 8 in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court on Friday told the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over a case about the murder of former Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar in February, Bar and Bench reported.
Ghosalkar was shot dead on February 8 in Mumbai while speaking live on Facebook. He was killed allegedly by an old rival named Mauris Noronha, who was later found dead and was believed to have died by suicide.
The city police had initially registered the case, and the matter was later handed over to the Crime Branch. The High Court on Friday told the CBI’s zonal director to appoint an official not below the rank of superintendent of police to lead the investigation.
A bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Shyam C Chandak passed the order after noting that there were “loose ends” in the Crime Branch’s investigation, according to Bar and Bench. It directed the Crime Branch to hand over the “relevant parts of the investigation” to the central agency within two weeks.
The former Mumbai corporator’s wife Tejasvee Ghosalkar had approached the High Court seeking an investigation either by the CBI or by a Special Investigation Team. She claimed that the Crime Branch was trying to protect Noronha’s personal assistant Mehul Parekh and bodyguard Amrendra Mishra, The Times of India reported.
Ghosalkar’s murder
Abhishek Ghosalkar and Noronha had a history of disputes and there had reportedly been tensions between them for several years. However, on February 8, Noronha allegedly lured Ghosalkar to his office on the pretext of patching up their differences, and the two later spoke during a joint Facebook Live session.
In a snippet of the Facebook Live session that was shared widely on social media, Noronha was seen speaking briefly and then going off the camera. Ghosalkar then acknowledged that the two earlier had misunderstandings, but had now come together for the welfare of the people. When he ended his address and got up to leave, bullets were fired at him.
Noronha’s body was also found later in the day.
