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A Pune court on Friday granted bail to Kalicharan Maharaj alias Abhijit Dhananjay Sarag over the alleged hate speech delivered by him in Pune in December 2021.

Kalicharan is from Akola in Maharashtra, Kalicharan, who is in his mid-30s, first became known in 2020 after a video of him reciting the Shiv Tandav Strotam went viral.

Kalicharan, Hindu Aghadi leader Milind Ekbote and Captain Digendra Kumar (retired) were booked by Khadak police station for allegedly making inflammatory statements during a 'Shiv Pratap Din' event, organised on December 19 to commemorate the 1659 killing of Adilshahi commander Afzal Khan by warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The FIR was registered under IPC sections 295 (A) (outraging religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intention of wounding religious feelings) and 505 (2) (false statement, rumour made in place of worship, etc, with intent to create enmity). As per the FIR, all the accused made speeches with an intention to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims and Christians and to create a communal rift.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) MA Shaikh observed in the order that there was no recovery required to be made from him, the sections he was charged with were punishable for upto three years and therefore no physical custody was required. The Magistrate further observed that the investigation will take time to complete and he can not be remanded in custody till then. The court granted him bail for Rs. 25,000 with one or two sureties of the same amount and directed him to co-operate with the investigation and attend the concerned police station once a month till filing of the charge sheet. 

However, Kalicharan will remain in prison for he has been arrested in a case in Chhattisgarh for criticising Mahatma Gandhi where his bail application is now pending before the High Court and Thane police too has registered a case against him.