In one of its biggest sweeps in a murder investigation,the Pune Police has questioned nearly 1,500 people,acquired data of 8 crore phone calls and footage from 110 CCTV cameras in its hunt for the killers of Maharashtras leading anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar. But 10 days after the 65-year-old campaigner was shot dead by unidentified assailants during his morning walk,they are no closer to identifying the culprits or even the motive behind the killing. Police Commissioner Gulabrao Pol says the murder plan indicates it was a supari or contract killing. Those questioned include 200 criminals from Pune,900 from outside the city,and about 80 activists of radical Hindu organisations such as Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti who strongly opposed Dabholkar and the anti-superstition bill proposed by his Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti,said a member of the Crime Branch investigation team. It also includes gangsters lodged in Yerwada,Taloja and others jails,gangsters in Pune,Mumbai,Thane and Nashik who are into illegal firearms trade and are suspected to have links with contract killers,and even 96 morning walkers. The 8 crore calls whose data has been acquired include calls that emanated from over 12 locations - Dadar station in Mumbai from where Dabholkar started a day before he was killed,the spots on the way,the entry points to Pune,the routes the suspects might have taken to flee and some spots Dabholkar is known to have visited in the days before his murder. The calls also include those made by people opposed to Dabholkar. This data is being analysed for patterns and common numbers,among others,with the help of software. Investigators are also looking for absconding Sanatan Sanstha members who are wanted for the Goa bomb blasts. Police are also probing the link of black magicians who also deal in illegal firearms and are looking into the possibility of religious gurus being involved,as Dabholkar campaigned against all of them. CCTV footage from near the crime scene shows that the assailants came near the Omkareshwar bridge around 6.15 am. They parked the vehicle,followed Dabholkar for some time and then shot him dead around 7.15 pm. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shahji Solunkhe told reporters that the CCTV footage showing the two suspects will be sent to a lab in Britain for further analysis. A police officer said they had checked video footage from 110 CCTV cameras in the city for leads. But the quality of most of the footage,including the one which shows the suspects,is too grainy to identify the killers. Police have however prepared a sketch of the suspects based on the description given by a witness. One witness is believed to have told police that the registration number of the motorbike used by the killers was 7756. This prompted investigators to collect information of hundreds of motorcycles with the number from all districts of the state. Not ruling out the possibility of the killers using a fake number plate,police teams have questioned 68 number plate makers in the city. The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and special teams of Mumbai police have also joined the probe,with ATS chief Rakesh Maria,known for handling terror and underworld crimes,holding a meeting with Pune Police officers investigating the case. But with no results to show yet,the police was slammed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar Friday for what he said was their failure to solve the case.
