Supreme Court Justice Shri Chandrashekhar on Tuesday receded from hearing lawyer Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in a 2016 arson case, becoming the third judge to do so in the case in the past year.
Justice PK Mishra announced the recusal when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought an adjournment before the matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising him and Justice Chandrashekhar. Justice Mishra said the case should be adjourned anyway, as Justice Chandrashekhar expressed his inability to hear it. “This should go before another bench as my brother [Justice Chandrashekhar] “He has some difficulty.”
The matter will now be placed before the Chief Justice of India to appoint a new bench to hear the petition.
On April 2, Justice A S Chandorkar refused to hear the matter. Justice MM Sundresh expressed his inability to continue hearing the matter in August 2025 despite hearing it since July 2024.
Justice Chandrashekhar was the chief justice of the Bombay High Court, which denied Gadling bail in January 2023, before his elevation to the Supreme Court last month. Justice Chandorkar was a judge of the same Supreme Court from 2013 until his elevation to the Supreme Court in May 2025.
Gadling is accused of being part of a conspiracy behind the torching of 80 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surajgarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district in December 2016. His bail application is pending before the Supreme Court since 2023. This year, the court ordered expediting the trial in the arson case. Gadling is also an accused in the 2018 violence in Bhima Koregaon near Pune.
In the arson case, Gadling was charged under the stringent Anti-Terrorism Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code sections relating to attempt to murder (307), unlawful restraint (341, 342), mischief by fire (435) and criminal conspiracy (120B).
The High Court denied bail to Gadling citing the entirety of the material on record. It added that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the charges leveled against Gadling of participation in a conspiracy, incitement to commit terrorist acts and membership in the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) are prima facie true.
The Supreme Court said the threat to the public and the seriousness of the alleged conspiracy against Gadling would far outweigh other considerations raised by Gadling. Gadling requested bail, saying he was a prominent lawyer with a long and impeccable record at the bar. He said that he is the sole breadwinner for his family and has never been involved in any other crime before. The trial court in March 2022 denied Gadling bail
