“At this stage, we are deeply troubled…” says Pansare’s family

Born in a small village named Kolhar in Shrirampur tehsil of Ahmednagar district on November 26, 1933, to farmer Pandharinath Pansare and his wife Harnabai, Pansare was attached to socialist organization Rashtra Seva Dal since his school days. He moved to Kolhapur after a teacher from his school moved with the family and asked Pansare to come along.

Pansare completed his BA from Rajaram College in Kolhapur and did his LLB subsequently. Pansare was briefly attached to the Socialist Party for sometime but entered the Communist Party of India in the 1950s. He also played an important role in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and Goa Liberation Movement. Pansare had penned close to two dozen books on diverse social, political and historical issues.

Pansare – fondly called Anna by his close ones and Comrade Pansare by many others – was 81-years-old at the time of the attack. At the time, he was returning home from his morning walk with his wife Uma. Pansare sustained three bullet injuries while Uma received an external wound with two bullets on the head, which caused a skull fracture. Pansare was moved to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, where he breathed his last due to internal bleeding in his lungs late in the night on February 20, 2015. His wife recovered from her injuries and was discharged a few weeks later.

Looking back, Pansare’s murder was second among four murders of rationalists and intellectuals. Probe by various investigation agencies point to strong links between the murders of anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in August 2013, Pansare in February 2015, Kannada scholar and writer M M Kalburgi in August 2015 and Bengaluru journalist Gauri Lankesh in September 2017.

The four murders had sparked a nationwide debate on issues surrounding the freedom of speech and various hostile forces against rational thinking. Investigation into these cases show these murders have multiple common perpetrators allegedly linked to Sanatan Sanstha and related organisations.

Pansare’s murder was initially probed by Kolhapur’s Rajarampuri police station and later transferred to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the purview of the Additional Director General of the Maharashtra CID. During the course of investigation, names of 12 accused were revealed. The SIT arrested Sameer Gaikwad, Virendrasinh Tawade, Amol Kale, Vasudev Suryavanshi, Bharat Kurne, Amit Degwekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin. Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar alias Kulkarni are still on the run.

In December 2015, the first charge sheet was filed in the case and subsequently, four supplementary charge-sheets have been filed against other nine accused persons. In January 2023, a court in Kolhapur framed charges against 10 accused in the case marking the beginning of the trial. All 10 accused have pleaded not guilty in the case. Till now, seven of the 10 accused have been granted bail with six of them being granted bail as latest as last month on the grounds of their prolonged pre-trial incarceration.

When contacted, daughter-in-law of Pansare Megha Pansare said, “At this stage, we are deeply troubled by two key issues. First, of the 10 accused currently on trial, seven have been granted bail. This is alarming, especially given the sensitive nature of the case and the potential risk it poses to crucial witnesses. Additionally, the release of these individuals heightens the risk to intellectuals and social activists who have already been provided security based on the threat perception.”

“The more pressing issue, however, is that the key conspirators and executors of the murder remain either unidentified or untraceable. It is unfortunate that, even after 10 years, these concerns persist. The High Court had been monitoring the probe into the case but not anymore,” said Megha.

Son of Dr Narendra Dabholkar Dr Hameed said, “Investigation agencies and the court have observed that there are much wider conspiracies behind these four murders which are linked to each other. In spite of this, the investigation agencies have failed to unearth these wider conspiracies. Further, the trials against those against whom there are strong evidence, are taking a long time and the accused are taking advantage of this and getting bails.”

Of the 10 accused facing trial in the Pansare case, Kalaskar, Andure and Tawade were also tried in Dabholkar murder case. While Tawade was acquitted by the court, Kalaskar and Andure have been sentenced. Further, absconding accused Akolkar and Pawar were initially named by the CBI as shooters in Dabholkar murder case. However, the agency later named Kalaskar and Andure as shooters.