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Journalism of Courage
Seeking maximum punishment for the accused persons allegedly linked to the Sanatan Sanstha, the prosecution Saturday concluded its final arguments in the Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case before a special court in Pune. Rationalist, anti superstition activist and founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), Dr Dabholkar, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants on the VR Shinde bridge in Pune on the morning of August 20 in 2013.
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.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, all the accused are allegedly linked to radical outfit Sanatan Sanstha. The CBI has claimed that “long standing enmity/ hatred” between Dabholkar and his MANS with Sanatan Sanstha as the motive behind his murder.
On Saturday, Special public prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Suryawanshi argued before special judge P P Jadhav against the claims that accused Kalaskar and Andure were not in Pune, but had gone to meet their sisters at Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar) and Akola respectively for Raksha Bandhan celebration on August 20, 2013, the day when Dabholkar was murdered.
SPP Suryawani called it an “after thought” and argued that the two defence witnesses never in the past made any such claim orally or in writing before the CBI, the trial court or the Bombay High Court.
Suryawanshi argued that husband of one of the defence witnesses is a photographer and so he must be having a camera, but still there is no photograph to show accused celebrating Raksha Bandhan with his sister on the day of murder. Suryawanshi argued that “conduct” of defence witnesses was “improbable and unnatural”.
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.
Meanwhile, while submitting the final arguments Saturday, Suryawanshi cited details from the evidence of S R Singh, the investigation officer (now retired) and said “sincere efforts” were made to recover the weapon used for killing Dabholkar, but it could not be recovered.
CBI had also not been able to recover the motorcycle used by the killers.
It may be recalled 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.
Dabholkar murder case was initially probed by the Pune City Police, who had arrested two illegal firearms dealers Manish Nagori and Vilas Khandelwal on June 20, 2014.
But they were later released on bail by the court. Later, the CBI took over the probe in 2014. Suryawanshi told the court today that CBI has not accused Nagori and Khandelwal.
Advocate Omkar Nevgi, representing Dabholkar’s son Hamid, will submit a written argument before the court on February 22. Defence lawyers would begin their final arguments on March 1.
