Dabholkar, Pansare murder: Day after Bombay HC rap, BJP minister says CM doesn’t probe crime cases

Expressing “shock” over the high court’s observations questioning the CM, Tawde said: “The High Court should give their observations in writing. It will then bring greater clarity and enable government to respond.”

The party said there is no question of the chief minister of the state or any minister “intervening” in the matter. (File)

A day after the Bombay High Court pulled up Maharashtra chief minister over the slow pace of probe into the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, state Education Minister Vinod Tawde on Friday said the investigation was entrusted with the highest agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Special Investigation Team (SIT).

The party said there is no question of the chief minister of the state or any minister “intervening” in the matter.

On Thursday, a division bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice B P Colabawalla, while hearing petitions filed by the family members of Dabholkar and Pansare, had asked whether the chief minister did not have time to take stock of the cases. “He (chief minister) holds 11 portfolios, including Home, but you don’t find time to take stock of the case… what are these persons and the secretary doing?”

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Expressing “shock” over the high court’s observations questioning the CM, Tawde said: “The High Court should give their observations in writing. It will then bring greater clarity and enable government to respond.”

Tawde said, “In any crime case, chief minister or state ministers don’t investigate the matter. The matter is always entrusted to the investigating agencies. The (murder) cases of Dabholkar, Pansare, M M Kalburgi (teacher) or Gauri Lankesh (journalist), are being probed by the CBI and SITs of Maharashtra and Karnataka.”

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