Gauri murder case accused now booked in Dabholkar case

Right-wing activist Amol Kale, the prime suspect in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, was on Thursday booked for the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabhokar.

The CBI, that is investigating the August 20, 2013, murder of Dabholkar in Pune, has secured the custody of Kale from Karnataka-SIT, which had a couple of months ago arrested him in connection with the September 5, 2017, killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.

Kale was produced before Judicial Magistrate-First Class SMA Sayyad, who presides over a court in Pune, on Thursday, which remanded him to police custody till September 14.

Kale is the third suspect in the in Gauri murder case whose custody had been taken by CBI in Dabholkar case - the two others being Rajesh Bangera, the chief trainer of the group, and Amit Digvekar.

In the Dabholkar murder case, so far there are five accused - Bangera, Digvekar, Kale, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar - who were arrested from Maharashtra the by CBI and Maharashtra-ATS.

Kale has been accused of providing firearms and a two-wheeler to Andure and Kalaskar, who shot Dabholkar.

Besides, Kale was also said to be constantly in touch with ENT specialist Dr Virendra Tawde, who has already been charge sheeted in the Dabholkar murder case.

Kale hails from Pimpri-Chinchwad, the twin city of Pune and is part of the same group of right-wing activists.

Seeking his remand and custodial interrogation, CBI lawyer Vijay Kumar Dhakne said he will not make an oral argument as the Bombay High Court has directed the probe agencies to maintain confidentiality in these cases.

Kumar, instead, submitted a written application to the magistrate. "Kale was one of the key conspirators in the Dabholkar murder case," he said, without elaborating.

Defence lawyer Dharmaraj Chandel, however, opposed the CBI's demand.
Chandel also demanded that Kale should be questioned only about Dabholkar murder case.

"When Andure was in their custody in the Dabholkar case, he was also questioned about the killing of Communist leader Govind Pansare," he said.