<p>Nine years after a techie Mohsin Shaikh was brutally murdered in the Hadapsar area of Pune, a court on Friday acquitted the 20 accused in the case including Right-wing leader Dhananjay Desai, who heads the Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS).</p>.<p>Additional Sessions Judge SB Salunke acquitted Desai and others for lack of evidence. </p>.<p>Desai was represented by senior lawyer Milind Pawar.</p>.<p>Shaikh (28), an IT professional, was attacked and killed on June 2, 2014 in Hadapsar area by a mob incensed by morphed pictures of deities and personalities such as Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. </p>.<p>Desai was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on January 7, 2019.</p>.<p>“It was a conspiracy. I was framed,” Desai said after the acquittal.</p>.<p>“In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP registered a huge win and Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister…the politics landscape was changing and the Congress was upset,” he said.</p>.<p>Around that time, the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government was in power.</p>.<p>According to the police case, Desai had delivered a provocative speech instigating the audience at the meeting - afterwards some people had gone on a rampage. Mohsin, who was on a bike with another person, was attacked. The person travelling with him managed to save himself and escape but Mohsin died.</p>.<p>Mohsin was a native of Solapur district.</p>
<p>Nine years after a techie Mohsin Shaikh was brutally murdered in the Hadapsar area of Pune, a court on Friday acquitted the 20 accused in the case including Right-wing leader Dhananjay Desai, who heads the Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS).</p>.<p>Additional Sessions Judge SB Salunke acquitted Desai and others for lack of evidence. </p>.<p>Desai was represented by senior lawyer Milind Pawar.</p>.<p>Shaikh (28), an IT professional, was attacked and killed on June 2, 2014 in Hadapsar area by a mob incensed by morphed pictures of deities and personalities such as Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. </p>.<p>Desai was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on January 7, 2019.</p>.<p>“It was a conspiracy. I was framed,” Desai said after the acquittal.</p>.<p>“In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP registered a huge win and Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister…the politics landscape was changing and the Congress was upset,” he said.</p>.<p>Around that time, the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government was in power.</p>.<p>According to the police case, Desai had delivered a provocative speech instigating the audience at the meeting - afterwards some people had gone on a rampage. Mohsin, who was on a bike with another person, was attacked. The person travelling with him managed to save himself and escape but Mohsin died.</p>.<p>Mohsin was a native of Solapur district.</p>
