THE prosecution in the ongoing case of the murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar submitted to the court on Wednesday that they have concluded their evidence in the trial. The court is now slated to record statements of the accused persons in the next hearing of the case. The cross examination of the last prosecution witness in the case--retired Superintendent of Police of the CBI S R Singh, who was the investigating officer--concluded in the trial court of additional sessions judge P P Jadhavon on September 5. Special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi said, "Today we have submitted to the court the evidence closing pursis. This marks the conclusion of prosecution evidence in trial. In the next hearing, the court is slated to record the statements of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. After that, the defence may produce the list of their witnesses if they wish to." A pursis is a written submission made to a court in a matter pending before it. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on September 18. Rationalist and anti-superstition activist Dr Dabholkar was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants on the V R Shinde bridge in Pune on the morning of August 20 in 2013. The accused who are being tried for murder include include ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade who was chargesheeted in September 2016; Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar--the two alleged assailants who were chargesheeted in February 2019; Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave who were chargesheeted in November 2019. All the accused are allegedly linked to radical outfit Sanatan Sanstha. On September 15, 2021, a special court in Pune framed charges against five accused, marking the beginning of the trials.
