CBI names three in Dabholkar murder

Files charge sheet against Sanatan Sanstha activist

Three years after rationalist and anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet against ENT specialist Dr Virendra Tawde, an activist of Sanatan Sanstha. Two more Sanatan Sanstha members – Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar – have also been named.

Tawde, a member of Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS), a Sanatan Sanstha offshoot, has an old enmity and hatred against Dabholkar and his organisation, Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS). Dabholkar, 67, was shot dead on August 20, 2013,  by two gunmen near Omkareshwar temple in Pune, when he was on his morning walk.

The CBI said that the murder was the result of a long enmity and hatred that existed between two private organisations. “Dr Dabholkar was the founder of a Satara-based organisation (MANS) and the suspect was part of another other private organisation based at Kolhapur.  Dr Tawde gave up his medical profession in 2001. The activities of people who were against the interests of the Kolhapur organisation got targeted and Dr Dabholkar was an important target,” the CBI said in its charge sheet.

The CBI has a series of mail-exchanges between Tawde and other Sanatan Sanstha activists that links him to the conspiracy to murder Dabholkar. He was also in touch with Sarang Akolkar, an activist who is absconding and faces a red-corner notice.

The residences of Dr Tawde and Akolkar (in Pune) were searched by the CBI which recovered several SIM cards, cell phones and data from computers. Dr Tawde was arrested in June this year. The Bombay High Court is regularly supervising the investigations.

Family welcomes move
Welcoming the CBI charge sheet against the chief conspirator of his father’s killer, Dr Dabholkar’s son Hamid said that rest of the suspects have  to be arrested. “It is a welcome step. However, Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar are still absconding and investigating agency (CBI) should arrest them as early as possible,” he said.

“The pattern of murders of Dr Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and Kannada writer Prof M M Kalburgi are similar...these absconding suspects are a threat to the society. The CBI and the NIA must track them down,” Hamid said.