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Mumbai: Eleven years after the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar of the Superstition Eradication Committee in Pune, a special court has convicted two assailants and sentenced them to life imprisonment, while three others, including key conspirator ENT surgeon Vinod Tawde, have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the absence of evidence. Acquitted in absence.
Additional Sessions Judge P.P. of the special court under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case. Jadhav, in his order in the packed court, said the government has been able to prove the charges of murder and conspiracy against shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kelkar. The court acquitted three accused ENT surgeon Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave due to lack of evidence.
Anti-superstition activist Dabholkar (67) was shot dead by motorcycle riders on August 30, 2013, while he was going for a morning walk on the Omkareshwar Bridge in Pune.
The court said that anti-terrorism UAPA was invoked in the case but due to negligence of the competent authority the charges were not proved.
The judge said that Tawde is accused as a conspirator but there is a lot of scope for suspicion against him, the government side has failed to convert this suspicion into evidence. So we have acquitted them all.
There was scope for suspicion against Bhave and Punalekar but no evidence. Therefore, due to lack of evidence, both have been acquitted of all charges.
Endure and Kalaskar were accused of shooting Dabholak and were charged with murder and similar intent, which has been proved beyond reasonable doubt, the court said. After brief arguments, the court awarded Janmtip and Rs. 1,000 to Andure and Kalaskar. Provided. A fine of five lakhs was imposed.
The judge said it is unfortunate that someone gets killed. However, in the hearing, the defense counsel described this act as commendable, which is regrettable and the accused's counsel should consider it. The government side cross-examined 20 witnesses, while the defense side cross-examined two witnesses.
Initially the case was being investigated by Pune Police. On the orders of the High Court, CBI took over the case in 2014 and arrested Tawde, associated with Sanatan Sanstha, in June 2016. According to the government side, Tawde was the mastermind. The government side claimed that Sanatan Sanstha was opposing the work of Maharashtra Superstition Eradication Committee.
CBI informed absconding Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar about the shooters. The latter arrested Andure and Kalaskar and claimed that they had fired the shots. Subsequently, lawyers Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave were arrested as co-conspirators.
The defense raised questions over the CBI changing the identity of the shooter. Tawde, Andure and Kalaskar are in jail while Punalekar and Bhave are out on bail.
Is he the mastermind behind the murder of three other intellectuals?
Abholkar's murder: Two-three rationalists have been murdered in the last four years. In which Samyava leader Govin Pansareni, Kannada Lekhal M. in Kolhapur in 2015. Kalburgi was murdered in Dharwad in 2015 and journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered in Bengaluru in 2017. It is possible that the accused is the same in all four cases.
Mastermind still absconding, we will appeal: Dabholkar family
Reacting to the verdict, Dabholkar's daughter Mukta said that the mastermind of the murder is still absconding and she will appeal against the verdict in the High Court.
His son Hamid Dabholkar said that if the mastermind is not punished then such incidents will be repeated. From the charge sheet it appears that Dabholkar was murdered for ideological reasons.