Mumbai street vendor accused of stabbing shopkeeper to death is released on bail in 2019 case

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to a street vendor who stabbed and killed the owner of a plywood shop multiple times in 2019 for hiring a street vendor outside the victim's shop in Mumbai's MIDC district.

The court observed that the accused, Vishwas Ganpat Bovane alias Pappu, had no criminal record and was granted bail solely on the basis of his long prison sentence.

The bench of Justice Manish Pitale noted that Pappu had already spent five years in jail. “The charge sheet lists 31 witnesses who need to be examined by the prosecution. Not a single witness has been examined and in fact there has been no progress in the trial despite the application made by this court in 2023 to expedite the trial,” Justice Pitale observed.

According to the case, the shop owner, Shiv Kumar Sharma, had asked Pappu to shift his food truck, which was using a gas cylinder on the road in Andheri East, to another location to avoid a disaster.

After repeated requests, Pappu not only allegedly refused to move but also made several death threats against Sharma and his family.

Sharma was upset with the reaction and filed a complaint at the MIDC police station in Andheri (East). Pappu was angry with Sharma's actions and allegedly stabbed him to death on October 9, 2019.

Sharma died in hospital after battling for his life for 13 days. After Sharma's death, his family also said they did not feel safe.

Meanwhile, Pappu approached the Supreme Court in 2023 seeking bail, but withdrew the application and demanded that the trial be expedited. In that order, he was given an opportunity to apply for bail after six months.

Pappu approached the Supreme Court again this year through his lawyer Shayan Usmani, arguing that the six-month deadline had expired.

Usmani argued that he could prove the discrepancies in the version of the eyewitnesses in the case and that the accused was innocent. However, he said that he is currently pushing for relief only because his client Pappu has been in jail for a long time and the trial is not progressing at all even after the 2023 order.

Additional Public Prosecutor Kiran Shinde submitted that the trial could be completed within a time frame specified by the Supreme Court and that the complainant may not be granted bail as there is sufficient evidence against him.