Three years after renowned rationalist and anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead at Pune, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed its chargesheet against Dr Virendrasinh Tawde, an activist of Sanatan Sanstha, in the much-discussed murder case.
In its charge-sheet filed before a First Class Judicial Magistrate at Pune, the CBI has also named Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as accused in the case. Of them, Akolkar is an absconder.
Dr Tawade, who was arrested from the Sanstha’s ashram at Panvel in Raigad district on June 10, 2016, has been charged under sections under 129 (b) and 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code. Dr Tawde is currently lodged at Yerwada Central Jail, Pune.
Sixty-nine-year-old Dabholkar was shot dead from a point blank range by two motor-bicycle riding gunmen – aged between 25 and 30 years, while he was taking a morning walk on the Omkareshwar bridge located in the heart of Pune, on August 20, 2013.
The brutal gunning down of Dabholkar –who had long been crusading for the passage of anti-superstition and black magic bill in the Maharashtra legislature – had caused a major furore in the State. The Maharashtra Government had faced criticism from various quarters for months on end.
With the State police having failed to make any headway in the investigations into the Dabholkar murder case, the Bombay High Court had transferred the case to the CBI on May 9, 2014, after overruling the objections raised by the Maharashtra Government. The CBI had registered a case on June 2, 2014, on the high court’s orders.
In its charge-sheet, the CBI has charged Dr Tawade as having conspired with Akolkar and Pawar in murdering Dabholkar.