Dabholkar, Pansare probe to gather steam

The probe into the sensational killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare is expected to gather steam with the arrest of right-wing activists by the ATS of the Maharashtra Police.

While CBI is handling the investigations into the murder of Dr Dabholkar, a Special Investigation Team of the Maharashtra police is investigating the brutal killing of Pansare.

The Bombay High Court is monitoring the investigations of both the cases.

The three arrested were identified as Vaibhav Raut (40), Sharad Kalaskar (25) and Sudhanav Ghondalekar (39). While Raut and Kalaskar were arrested from Nalasopara in Mumbai, Ghondalekar was arrested from Pune. Raut was a member of Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti that is linked to Hindu Janjagaran Samiti. Ghondalekar is associated with Shri Shiv Pratisthan.

“We will interrogate them in cases like killings of Dabholkar, Pansare,” Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said. However, he has not named any organisations to which these suspect belong.

Dr Dabholkar, 67, rationalist and anti-superstition activist who founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was shot dead on June 20, 2013, by two unidentified gunmen near Omkareshwar temple in Pune.

Comrade Pansare, 82, a rationalist and leader of Communist Party of India and his wife were attacked by two motor-cycle borne youths on February 16, 2015, near his home in Kolhapur, and he died four days later on February 20, 2015, at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.