HC raps cops for ignoring ‘vital aspects’ in Ghosalkar murder, hands case to CBI

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday transferred the Abhishek Ghosalkar murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), saying the police did not probe some angles properly and deeper investigation was required.
“The petitioner’s (deceased) husband, an ex-corporator, was shot at by Mauris (Noronha). The same was captured live on Facebook and viewed by several persons,” said the division bench comprising justices Revati Mohite Dere and Shyam C Chandak, adding that “it was a cold-blooded murder captured live, an incident which shook the conscience of one and all.”
The court was hearing a petition filed by the deceased’s wife Tejaswi Ghosalkar, who alleged that unit 11 of the crime branch did not investigate all possible angles and the likely involvement of some other persons in the conspiracy to kill her husband.
The 41-year-old former corporator was allegedly killed by his purported political rival, Mauris Noronha aka Mauris Bhai, on February 8, 2024, during a livestreaming session on Facebook. Noronha had invited Ghosalkar to his office under the pretext of finalising a programme to distribute sarees to poor women in the locality and shot him during their conversation.
The probe by the crime branch revealed that Noronha had used the licensed gun of his bodyguard, Amrendra Mishra, to kill Ghosalkar and later, himself. Accordingly, Mishra was arrested after being booking under relevant sections of the Arms Act.
Tejaswi Ghosalkar, through her counsel Bhushan Mahadik, complained that the police had not probed roles of some other persons like Mehul Parekh, who worked in Noronha’s office, and another person named Sanjay Acharya. Moreover, there were discrepancies in the statements of Mishra and Parekh, who were both present near Noronha’s office when Ghosalkar was shot dead, she claimed.
The court accepted her arguments, including the discrepancies in statements of Mishra and Parekh, who had allegedly visited Ghosalkar’s office a day prior to his murder and convinced him to visit Noronha’s office the next day. The court also noted the probe failed to account for why Mishra had bought extra bullets at Noronha’s cost from a shop in Mumbai.
“We have gone through the investigation papers and find that there are some loose ends/ areas which have not been examined by the police,” said the bench. “The maze of suspicious circumstances has not been pierced and solved and most importantly, some vital aspects which ought to have been investigated have not been investigated.”
The court deemed it appropriate to transfer the case to the CBI “so as to retain public confidence and ensure that justice is done”. It directed the Mumbai crime branch to hand over all the case papers to the central agency within two weeks. It also directed the CBI to depute an IPS officer not below the rank of a superintendent of police to conduct further investigation in the case.