Bombay HC stops monitoring of Govind Pansare murder case, asks lower court to expedite trial

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday discontinued its monitoring of the probe in the 2015 murder of communist leader and rationalist writer Govind Pansare while asking the sessions court to expedite the ongoing trial.

The trial at the Kolhapur court should be held on a daily basis, the HC directed.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata said the monitoring of the investigation was no longer necessary, noting that a report submitted by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police indicates that the case has been probed from all angles.

As per the report, except the arrest of the two-absconding accused, nothing further remains to be investigated, the court said.

"According to us, only for the purpose of arrest of the absconding accused, continuous monitoring of the further investigation by this court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not necessary," the bench said.

When the wanted accused are arrested, the investigating agency can report it to the trial court at Kolhapur, the judges said, disposing of a plea filed by one of the accused against the high court's continued monitoring of the probe.

Govind Pansare, a Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and writer, and his wife Uma were shot in Kolhapur city of western Maharashtra on February 15, 2015, while on a morning walk. He succumbed to his injuries five days later while his wife survived.

The investigation was initially conducted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) but later transferred to the ATS in 2022.

The high court was monitoring the probe since 2016 with investigation agencies regularly submitting reports about progress in the probe.

On a point raised by the victim's family about the delay in the trial, the high court noted that it has already started, and as of December 16, 2024, the prosecution had examined 28 witnesses.

The bench directed the sessions court to expedite the trial and conduct daily hearings.

Pansare's murder had been preceded by the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013.

The attack on Pansare was followed by the murders of Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi in August 2015, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in September 2017.

As per the probe agencies, some of the suspects in all four cases were linked to each other.