Pansare murder: Kin to seek HC watch on probe

Veteran Communist leader and anti-toll tax campaigner Govind Pandharinath Pansare.

Megha Pansare, daughter-in-law of murdered social activist Govind Pansare, Wednesday said the family would move the Bombay High Court with a plea to supervise the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the state to investigate the case. Megha was speaking during an interaction with the media, where Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of slain anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, and Sandeep Shetty, whose brother Satish, a Right To Information (RTI) activist, was murdered in 2010, were also present.

The discussion was chaired by retired Bombay High Court Justice B G Kolse Patil. Megha, Mukta and Sandeep spoke about the struggle that they had been facing in getting justice for their slain family members. “I feel the murder was a planned and premeditated one but the police have not risen up to the challenge, and the political will is also missing. We have decided that we will ask for the SIT to be supervised by court, because earlier instances (of activists being murdered) do not inspire too much faith in the system,” Megha said.

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Pansare was shot outside his Kolhapur residence on February 16 this year, and he succumbed to his injuries on February 20. On April 24, the Maharashtra government appointed an SIT to probe the murder. “There is also a need to go into the reasons why the case is not being detected and who is responsible for this,” Megha added.

Mukta and Sandeep echoed similar sentiments. “My brother’s death is a very small part. It’s not about my brother any more. I am only trying to show the society that the system is not unbiased. I want to tell people that they shouldn’t be fooled by the aura of a CBI inquiry. Everywhere, there are people with vested interests,” Sandeep said. Shetty was stabbed to death near his house in Talegaon on January 13, 2010. He had filed a complaint alleging land grab by the Ideal Road Builders (IRB) Infrastructure Limited. The case was transferred to the CBI on April 6, 2010.