Mumbai: Bombay High Court granted bail to a woman accused of conspiring with her lover and two others to murder her husband and throw his body in front of a moving train near Rabale and Ghansoli railway stations in Navi Mumbai.
The HC granted bail to Puja Chavan, who is accused of conspiring with her alleged lover Bhushan Brahmane and two others to murder her husband
Vijay Chavan and throw his body in front of a moving train near Rabale and Ghansoli railway stations in Navi Mumbai.
Justice Shyam C Chandak allowed bail to Puja Vijay Chavan, who had been in jail for around 22 months. The prosecution alleged that Puja was in a romantic relationship with co-accused Bhushan Brahmane, a resident of Dhule, since 2022. The prosecution claimed that she had told Brahmane about the alleged ill-treatment she faced at the hands of her husband and her desire to get rid of him. The two allegedly conspired to murder him and involved Prakash, a relative of Puja, and Pravin Patil, a friend of Brahmane. Puja is accused of conspiracy with the other accused.
The prosecution alleged that on Dec 31, 2024, Prakash took the deceased in his car on the pretext of consuming liquor.
Brahmane and Pravin Patil subsequently joined them. The deceased was allegedly strangled inside the car, and his body was thrown in front of a moving train between Rabale and Ghansoli railway stations.
Opposing bail, the prosecution relied on call detail records (CDRs) and internet usage records of the accused, claiming that Chavan, Prakash and Brahmane had been in constant contact before and around the time of the incident. The prosecution argued that the phone records indicated Puja’s role in the prima facie case of conspiracy.
Puja’s lawyer Sana Raees Khan argued that there is no material indicating that Puja had induced or facilitated the deceased’s meeting with the other accused on the pretext of consuming liquor and that a call detail record with the co-accused at the time of the incident, in the absence of a transcript, is not incriminating enough to indict the applicant.
However, the court observed that, apart from the CDRs between Puja and Prakash, there was no other evidence indicating that she had facilitated her husband’s meeting with the co-accused or participated in discussions about the alleged conspiracy. It held that the call records alone were insufficient to prima facie conclude that she had conspired with the other accused to commit the murder.
The court also noted that the prosecution had cited 93 witnesses and that the trial was unlikely to conclude in the foreseeable future. Considering that Puja had been in custody for 22 months and had two children aged 11 and seven, the court found it appropriate to grant her bail.
Puja was directed to execute a personal recognisance bond of Rs 1 lakh with one or two sureties of a similar amount. She must mark her attendance at Vashi Railway Police Station on the first day of every third month between 11 am and 2 pm until the conclusion of the trial. She must also attend court proceedings unless exempted, refrain from tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses, and provide her contact number and residential address to the investigating officer.
The court clarified that its observations were confined to the bail application and would not influence the trial court while deciding the case on merits.
