What is CM doing: Bombay HC

"What is the CM doing," the Bombay High Court asked on Thursday vis-a-vis investigations into the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Leftist leader Govind Pansare.

This comes as a major embarrassment to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the backdrop of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

"What is the chief minister doing? He holds 11 portfolios, including Home, but does not find the time to take stock of the case. His deputies do not have the time to remove obstacles in the probe?" a division bench, consisting of justices SC Dharmadhikari and B P Colabawala, said.

On the functioning of the SIT that is probing the Pansare murder, the court, in its oral observations, wanted to know whether the neighbouring state of Karnataka was getting clues because it is of a different ideology.

"It is shameful and we should not be saying this... if that unfortunate incident in Karnataka (killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh) had not happened and you (Maharashtra police) had not coordinated with the Karnataka police, you would have remained clueless," justice Dharmadhikari said.

The court rapped the state after CID counsel Ashok Mundergi said that the strength of SIT has been increased to 35.

"Top officers are reviewing the case regularly... we have also increased the reward for information from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh," he said.

The court also summoned Additional Chief Secretary Amitabh Gupta.