The CBI has challenged the acquittal of Padamsinh Patil and seven others in the 2006 Pawanraje Nimbalkar murder case. The appeal brings the politically sensitive case back before the Bombay High Court.
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Mumbai,Oct 13, 2026 18:58 IST
The Central Bureau of Investigation has moved the Bombay High Court against the acquittal of former Maharashtra minister Padamsinh Patil and seven others in the 2006 murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar. On June 20, a sessions court in Mumbai acquitted all the accused, saying the evidence did not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
In its appeal, the CBI said the sessions court's judgment was "bad in law and deserved to be quashed". The matter is likely to come up for hearing before a division bench headed by Justice S V Kotwal this week.
Last month, Anandidevi Nimbalkar, Pawanraje's wife and Shiv Sena MP Omraje Nimbalkar's mother, also filed an appeal in the high court against the acquittal. The court then issued a notice to Patil and the other acquitted accused.
Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi, were travelling from Mumbai to Osmanabad, now Dharashiv, on June 3, 2006, when two men intercepted their car at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai and shot them dead. The Navi Mumbai police initially investigated the case, but the Bombay High Court later handed the probe to the CBI after Nimbalkar's wife expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the investigation.
Patil, now 85, was arrested in June 2009 after the CBI took over the inquiry. Besides him, the other accused included Latur-based businessman Satish Mandade, retired state excise inspector Mohan Shukla and the two alleged shooters. According to the CBI, political rivalry linked to financial irregularities in a cooperative bank and a sugar factory had damaged relations between Patil and Nimbalkar and led to the murder. With the CBI and Nimbalkar's wife both challenging the acquittal, the case is now back before the Bombay High Court.
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