Pansare murder: NIA team to visit Kolhapur today

Sources said all teams are likely to have an interaction with NIA officials.

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The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing Pansare’s murder had arrested Sanatan member Sameer Gaikwad Wednesday. Gaikwad was questioned by the NIA in 2010 when the agency was probing the Madgaon blast case.

Investigators are probing if the three terror suspects linked to Sanatan Sanstha, wanted in the Goa blast case, had anything to do with the three murders.
One of the suspects, Sarang Akolkar, is from Pune, where Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013. Another suspect, Rudra Patil, is from Sangli and has studied in Kolhapur, where Pansare was shot dead on February 16, 2015.

The third absconder, Jay Prakash alias Anna, hails from Mangalore in Karnataka and was known to be active in Dharwad area, were Kalburgi was shot dead on August 30 this year.

“Therefore, teams investigating the three murders suspect some common links,” officials said.

Gaikwad was questioned by the NIA because of his close links with Sanatan worker Malgonda Patil of Sangli, who had died along with Yogesh Naik when the bomb the duo were carrying on their scooter exploded prematurely.

Police said Rudra Patil is a cousin of Malgonda and knew Gaikwad well. Rudra is also a close friend of Akolkar, who is a graduate of electronics engineering from a private college in Pune.

Though all six suspects arrested by the NIA were acquitted by a Goa court in 2013, there are interpol notices issued against Akolkar, Rudra and Jay Prakash. According to the NIA, they trio are extremists and were aware and present while “preparing IEDs” and conducting “test blasts” on a hill in Talaulim village of Goa between “August 26 and 28, 2009”.

Meanwhile, the SIT has questioned five persons said to be close to Gaikwad in the last two days.