Narendra Dabholkar murder: CBI not appealing acquittal of 3 accused even after 100 days is ‘inexcusable’, says family

Special judge P P Jadhav passed the order in this regard nearly 10 years and eight months after Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (ANIS), was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants on the V R Shinde bridge in Pune on the morning of August 20 in 2013.

Dr Dabholkar’s son Hamid expressed his concern about the delay in filing an appeal by the CBI against the acquittal of three accused in the murder case. “It’s been nearly 100 days since the Pune court acquitted the three accused, and the CBI has yet to file an appeal in the high court. As family members of Dr Dabholkar, we have taken the initiative to move the high court against the acquittal, but the CBI’s delay in filing the appeal is inexcusable.”

Hamid pointed out that while acquitting Tawade, the Pune court had clearly said there was a “lot of scope for suspicion” against him, but “the prosecution has failed to provide evidence for it.” Judge had also said “there is definitely suspicion” on Bhave and Punalekar, “but due to lack of evidence, they are being acquitted”.

Dabholkar family members submitted a representation to the CBI director by email five days ago to seek the agency’s attention on the observations made by the special court in Pune against the three acquitted in the murder case.

“So far, we have not received any response from the CBI. Ideally, the CBI should have challenged the acquittal within 90 days. We learned that the CBI will not be filing an appeal against the acquittal of the three accused. We do not know the reason behind it,” said Hamid.

Dabholkar’s family and activists of ANIS demanded that the CBI should immediately submit an appeal to the high court against the acquittal of the three accused in the murder case.

Last month, Andure and Kalaskar, the two convicts in this case, moved the Bombay High Court to challenge their conviction. A division bench led by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere admitted their appeals and issued notice to the CBI, seeking its response.

The Dabholkar murder case – A timeline

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

The CBI took over the probe into the murder in June 2014 but never accused Nagori and Khandelwal. During the 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.

Just like Dabholkar, communist leader Pansare was shot dead in Kolhapur while 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 murder 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.

But contradicting its claim, the CBI arrested Andure and Kalaskar in August 2018, as the two shooters who shot dead Dabholkar. Both hailed from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (then called Aurangabad district) in Maharashtra. Kalaskar is a farmer, while Andure worked as an accountant in a private shop.

Andure’s name cropped up during the interrogation of three Hindutva activists arrested by the ATS on August 10, 2018, in the Nalasopara arms haul case, following clues obtained from the Karnataka Police probe into the Gauri Lankesh murder case. The CBI arrested Andure following Kalaskar’s interrogation.

In May 2019, the CBI arrested Mumbai-based lawyer Punalekar and Vikram Bhave. The CBI alleged Punalekar had advised Kalaskar to destroy the firearms used in the murders of Dabholkar and Gauri Lankesh. The CBI claimed that following Punalekar’s instructions, Kalaskar allegedly 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 that Bhave, who was in the past convicted in the Thane auditorium blast case of 2008, conducted the recce before Dabholkar’s murder. In September 2021, the CBI framed charges against Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave for murder, conspiracy to commit murder under sections of the Indian Penal Code, Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) pertaining to terrorist acts, and provisions of the Arms Act. Punalekar was charged with the destruction of evidence in the case.

As many as 20 prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses were examined during the trial. After hearing lawyers from both sides, the court sentenced Andure and Kalaskar to rigorous life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs five lakh each. The court observed that “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”.

Meanwhile, in the Dabholkar murder case, the CBI also arrested three more accused — Amol Kale, Amit Digwekar and Rajesh Bangera — who were also accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case in Karnataka. But they were not charge-sheeted.

ANIS demands law against black magic at national level

On the occasion of the 11th death anniversary of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, members of ANIS have demanded a law like the “The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act” should be made applicable across the country. The bill was passed by the Maharashtra government in December 2013, following the murder of Dr Dabholkar.

“Our activists will meet the members of Parliament from Maharashtra, asking them to demand such a law at the national level. Currently, Maharashtra and Karnataka state has such laws,” said Hamid.

ANIS activists said after the death of 121 people, mainly women, in the July 2 stampede at a religious congregation at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, Congress party leader Mallikarjun Kharge had expressed the need for such a law across the country.

The ANIS also demanded proper implementation of a police department order on the formation of “Andhashraddha Nirmulan Kaksh” at all police stations in Maharashtra. ANIS office bearer Milind Deshmukh said they invited lyricist and stand-up comedian Varun Grover to deliver a speech in Pune on August 20, 2024, to commemorate Dabholkar’s death anniversary.