Two suspects on radar for Dabholkar murder

Bombay HC asks agencies to submit report by Nov 30

In what could be a major breakthrough in the sensational gunning down of rationalist and anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, the CBI on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that it has zeroed in on two suspects, who are members of Sanatan Sanstha.

CBI counsel Rebecca Gonsalves submitted the two names in a sealed cover to a division bench comprising Justice R V More and Justice R G Ketkar along with a status report on their probe in the August 20, 2013 murder of Dr Dabholkar,  the founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti.

“Two persons have been put on surveillance and their role is being probed,” she said.
However, she added that the CBI has so far not found any evidence to link Sanatan Sanstha member Rudra Patil, a wanted suspect in the 2009 Goa bomb blast case, with the murder of Dr Dabholkar.

 The development came when the division bench was hearing a bunch of petitions family members of Dr Dabholkar and that of comrade Govind Pansare, who too were attacked in a similar fashion on February 16, 2015, near his home in Kolhapur, and died four days later on February 20, 2015, at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state CID, probing the Pansare murder, also submitted their report.

“We find that the SIT probing the Pansare murder case is doing a more satisfactory work and are more active than the CBI. The probe in the Dabholkar case could be lagging behind because of shortage of manpower in the agency (CBI),” the judges observed.

The state CID in its report informed the court that it would be filing its charge sheet within the 90 day period against Sameer Gaikwad, a full-timer of Sanatan Sanstha, who has been arrested for murder of comrade Pansare.

“There seems to be a nexus between the two murders and the investigating agencies should consider looking into it together,” the court observed and directed both the agencies to file fresh status reports by November 30.