From Nimbalkar to Siddique: Murders of political leaders and long legal battles in Maharashtra

The acquittal of all accused in the 2006 murder of former Congress leader from Dharashiv (earlier Osmanabad) Pawanraje Nimbalkar has once again brought focus on murders of political persons in Maharashtra.

The order by a special court designated under the CBI Act on Saturday, nearly two decades after the killing, which shows investigations, trials and appeals can stretch for years before courts reach a final verdict.

The court acquitted former Maharashtra Home Minister Padamsinh Patil (86), brother of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, and seven others. The CBI is likely to challenge it before the Bombay High Court.

The decision came amid a string of other politically charged killings in Maharashtra over the last two decades, many of which continue to be shaped by prolonged investigations, pending trials and appeals years after the killings.

NCP leader Baba Siddique

As he stepped out of his then MLA son Zeeshan’s office in Bandra (East), veteran Mumbai politician, former minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique was shot dead on October 12, 2024. The assailants walked up to Siddiqui and shot him, escaped into the crowd, only to be arrested subsequently.

Mumbai Police claimed the murder was carried out on the instructions of gangster Anmol Bishnoi, brother of Lawrence Bishnoi. A total of 27 arrests were made in the case.

Status: Trial in the case has begun. Anmol, a wanted accused, was brought to India from the US in 2025 and is lodged in a high-security cell at Tihar Jail. Police claimed the murder was intended to spread fear, assert the gang’s dominance and establish an extortion racket in Mumbai, and that Siddique was targeted because of his close association with actor Salman Khan, who had been the gang’s target earlier.

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Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar

On February 8, 2024, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former BMC corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar attended a Facebook Live interaction at the invitation of political rival and businessman Mauris Noronha. The two Borivali residents had longstanding disputes. Mauris, arrested in 2022 on allegations of sexual assault and cheating, blamed Ghosalkar for supporting the complainant and held a grudge against him over it.

Before the live event, he extended a hand of friendship to Ghosalkar and invited him for a conversation. During the live event at his office, Mauris stepped out of frame, brought a gun, shot Ghosalkar multiple times and then shot himself.

Status: The case against Mauris abated after his death. Mumbai Police arrested his bodyguard, Amarendra Mishra, whose licensed firearm was used in the crime, though Mishra maintained it was done without his knowledge. In 2024, the High Court transferred the probe to the CBI on a plea by Ghosalkar’s wife Tejasvee, now a BJP corporator, for a deeper investigation into the murder. While the CBI has made no arrests or disclosed involvement of any other person, a Mumbai court last week permitted polygraph tests on two persons linked to Mauris.

Beed Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh

Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from Beed district in Marathwada region was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted for around three hours and killed on December 9, 2024. The prosecution alleged he was murdered for preventing an extortion attempt by the accused, led by Walmik Karad, against Avaada Energy Pvt Ltd, which operated a windmill project in Beed. Deshmukh had allegedly requested the accused not to shut down a company that generated local employment. Karad, an alleged close aide of former NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, and others were booked for murder and conspiracy. Public outrage over the killing led to Munde’s resignation.

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Status: In December 2025, a special court designated under the MCOC Act framed charges against six accused. Rejecting Karad’s bail plea on December 17, 2025, the High Court observed that “the continuity of events clearly reflects organised criminal activity planned by Karad”. The High Court later dismissed Karad’s discharge plea, clearing the way for trial.

CPI leader and activist Govind Pansare

On February 16, 2015, activist and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare and his wife were shot by unidentified assailants in Kolhapur during their morning walk. While his wife

survived, Pansare died at a Mumbai hospital four days later. Some accused in the case were also implicated in the 2013 murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra, the 2015 killing of scholar M M Kalburgi and the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Karnataka.

Status: The Bombay High Court monitored the probe by the SIT of the state CID since 2016. In August 2022, it transferred the probe to the state ATS, stating that shooters remained absconding and the investigation was required to be “taken to its logical end, failing which, the perpetrators of the crime would be emboldened.”

In January last year, the HC directed the Kolhapur sessions court to expedite the trial. Three accused in the case were granted bail by HC in October, 2025, for long-incarceration and as the trial, which is underway in the case, “would take time.”

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Shiv Sena Corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar

In March, 2007, Shiv Sena Corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar was gunned down outside his home in Ghatkopar (West) in suburban Mumbai. A sessions court in Mumbai in 2012 convicted gangster Arun Gawli and 10 co-accused for killing him on the orders of his rivals. The Mumbai Police’s crime branch had booked them under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), among other provisions.

Status: The High Court in December 2019 upheld Gawli’s conviction, observing that his involvement in the murder “has been proved by the prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt” and that “the fact that he is the leader of an organised crime syndicate and party to Continuing Unlawful Activity (CULA) stands established”.

In August last year, the Supreme Court granted bail to gangster-turned-politician Gawli pending his appeal against the conviction in the SC.

Former Union Minister Pramod Mahajan killed by brother

On April 22, 2006, a former Union Minister and key BJP strategist, Pramod Mahajan, was shot at his Worli residence in Mumbai by his younger brother Pravin Mahajan and succumbed to his injuries on May 3, that year.

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Pravin was arrested, and he confessed to the crime and was convicted by the Sessions court in 2007. Pravin died of a heart attack in 2010 when he was out on Parole.