Dabholkar murder case: Cops suppressed CDR, other possibilities ignored during probe, says defence lawyer

Trial of the murder case is on before the court of special judge P P Jadhav in Pune.

Advocate Prakash Salsingikar, who is representing the accused persons, told the court that investigators, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Pune city police, did not probe into the issues like details of certain financial transactions found in Dabholkar’s dairy.

Salsingikar also alleged that police had procured the details of the calls made from Dabholkar’s mobile phone, but it was not produced before the court.

Salsingikar claimed that investigators “suppressed” the CDR and did not reveal who made the last calls to Dabholkar.

Salsingikar also argued there was nothing from the investigators about the probe into the SIM card of a foreign company found with Dabholkar’s body.

Defence lawyer argued that police did not probe whether Dabholkar’s murder had anything to do with his movement against bogus doctors and wrong practices of “Jaat Panchayat”.

Also, police did not investigate whether the crime was a fallout of any financial disputes, he said.

Salsingikar claimed that investigators ignored all other possibilities and focussed only on Sanatan Sanstha, the radical outfit to which all the accused in the case are allegedly linked according to the CBI.

Meanwhile, the prosecution had concluded its final arguments on February 17. Special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi had sought maximum punishment for the accused persons allegedly linked to the Sanatan Sanstha.

On Friday, Suryawanshi submitted two citations to support the psychological evaluation and extra judicial confession of an accused.

On February 22, advocate Omkar Neogi, who represents the family of Dr Dabholkar, had submitted written notes of arguments to the court.

“These notes summarise how the murder is proven beyond reasonable doubts,” he said.

The accused who are being tried for murder include ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade who was chargesheeted in September 2016; the two alleged shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar who were chargesheeted in February 2019; a Mumbai-based senior lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave who were chargesheeted in November 2019.

The CBI has claimed that “long standing enmity/ hatred” between Dabholkar and his MANS with Sanatan Sanstha as the motive behind his murder.

There was a controversy over who killed Dabholkar because the CBI had initially, in the charge sheet against Tawde stated that Dabholkar was shot dead by Sanatan Sanstha seekers Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar, both of whom are still not traceable. But, contradicting its own claim, the CBI had later submitted to the court that Andure and Kalaskar (who were arrested in August 2018) had shot Dabholkar dead.

On September 15, 2022, a special court had framed charges in the murder case against four of the accused — Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave — for murder, conspiracy to commit murder as per sections of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities prevention Act (UAPA) pertaining to terrorist acts, and various provisions of the Arms Act for the use of firearms.

The court charged Punalekar with destruction of evidence in the case. All the five accused have pleaded not guilty to the charges. While Tawade, Andure and Kalaskar are currently in prison, Bhave and Punalekar are out on bail.
Defence lawyers would continue their final arguments on March 2.