Dabholkar murder: 2 get life in prison, alleged mastermind among 3 acquitted

Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants on the V R Shinde bridge in Pune on the morning of August 20 in 2013.

While acquitting Tawade, the judge said there was a “lot of scope for suspicion” against him, but “the prosecution has failed to provide evidence for it”. He also said “there is definitely suspicion” on Bhave and Punalekar, “but due to lack of evidence they are being acquitted”.

“There were charges under the UAPA in this case. Due to the negligent approach shown by the competent officer, the charges under the UAPA cannot be proved against any accused,” the judge said.

He said the charges under IPC sections 302, 34 and sections of the Arms Act against Andure and Kalaskar have been proved “beyond doubt”.

After hearing lawyers from both sides, the court sentenced the duo to rigorous life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 5 lakh each.

“There is something that needs to be pointed out here. Murder of any person is a very unfortunate incident. However, from the side of the accused, especially by their defence lawyers, in the cross examination and arguments, there were some statements made by them through which they tried to justify the act. This was extremely unfortunate. The defence lawyers should make it a point to ponder over this in the future,” the judge said.

A total of 20 prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses were examined during the trial.

CBI lawyer Prakash Suryavanshi said they will study the judgement and take a call on further course of action including filing of an appeal in the High Court.

In a statement after the verdict, Dabholkar’s wife Dr Shaila, son Dr Hamid and daughter Mukta said that the conviction of Andure and Kalaskar had reaffirmed their faith in the judiciary.

“We will challenge the acquittal of Virendra Tawade, Punalekar and Bhave in the High Court. The CBI has said in the chargesheet that the murder was part of the terrorist conspiracy. However, the main conspirators of the case have not been arrested until now. We hope that the CBI and other investigation agencies in the country will work in this regard,” the statement said.

Claiming lapses in the process of the identification parade of the accused, defence lawyers Prakash Salsingikar, Virendra Ichalkaranjikar and Suvarna Avhad Vast said they would challenge the conviction of the two accused in the High Court.

A statement by Sanatan Sanstha said the two convicts are not linked to the outfit and “there is possibility that they are also framed in this case”.

The Pune city police, which initially probed the Dabholkar murder, arrested alleged illegal firearms dealer Manish Nagori and Vilas Khandelwal in January 2014. Police claimed a ballistic examination of one of the firearms, seized from them following their arrest by the Maharashtra ATS in October 2013, suggested that it matched the “markings” on a cartridge seized from the Dabholkar murder spot.

The CBI took over the probe in June 2014, but it never accused Nagori and Khandelwal. During its investigation, the CBI recorded the statement of Sanjay Arun Sadvilkar, a Kolhapur-based artisan, who is also a witness in the Govind Pansare murder case.

Like Dabholkar, Communist leader Govind Pansare was shot dead in Kolhapur while he was on a morning walk with his wife Uma on February 16, 2015.

Based on Sadvilkar’s statement, the CBI made its first arrest, that of a Sanatan Sanstha seeker and ENT surgeon Dr Tawade, in the Dabholkar case on June 10, 2016.

In September 2016, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Tawade, naming Sanatan seekers Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the two assailants who shot Dabholkar. Later, contradicting its claim, the CBI arrested Andure and Kalaskar in August 2018 as the two men who shot dead Dabholkar.

Kalaskar was among the activists arrested by the ATS on August 10, 2018, in a Nalasopara arms haul case, following clues obtained from the Karnataka police probe into the Gauri Lankesh murder case. Their interrogation allegedly revealed Andure and Kalaskar’s involvement in the Dabholkar murder.

In May 2019, the CBI arrested Mumbai-based lawyer Punalekar and Vikram Bhave. The CBI claimed Punalekar had advised Kalaskar to destroy the firearms used in the killings of Dabholkar and Gauri Lankesh.

The CBI claimed that following Punalekar’s instructions, Kalaskar dismantled four country-made pistols and threw the parts from a bridge into a creek in Thane in July 2018. The murder weapon was never recovered.

The CBI alleged Bhave had conducted a reconnaissance before the murder. Both Bhave and Punalekar were later released on bail. Bhave had been convicted in the Thane auditorium blast case of 2008.

Meanwhile, in September 2021, the CBI framed charges against the five accused. Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder under sections of the IPC, section 16 of the UAPA pertaining to terrorist acts, and provisions of the Arms Act. Punalekar was charged with destruction of evidence in the case.

In the Dabholkar murder case, the CBI had also arrested three more suspects – Amol Kale, Amit Digwekar and Rajesh Bangera – who are also accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case in Karnataka. But they were not chargesheeted.

The court observed that the “prosecution has not proved the offence under section 16 of the UAPA Act against any of the accused. So also, the offence of conspiracy is not at all proved against any of the accused.”

The two eyewitnesses, who identified Andure and Kalaskar during the trial, were found to be “trustworthy” by the court. Even though the murder weapon was not recovered, the court observed that “it is settled law that seizure of muddemal weapons is not mandatory to prove an offence”.

The sisters of Kalaskar and Andure had told the court their brothers were present with them at home for Raksha Bandhan on August 20, 2013, the day when Dabholkar was killed. But the court stated from the evidence “it is crystal clear” that both fired bullets at Dabholkar.

The two convicts hail from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (then called Aurangabad district) in Maharashtra. Kalaskar is a farmer while Andure worked as an accountant in a private shop. Their family members broke down in the court premises after the conviction.