The Bombay High Court on Tuesday pulled up the CBI and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the State CID for lack of adequate progress in the ongoing investigations into the murders of renowned rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and CPI activist Govind Pansare.
After perusing the probe reports submitted by the CBI and State CID in the two cases, a HC division Bench, headed by Justice SC Dharmadhikari, said that the investigations were not satisfactory and directed both the agencies to progress reports on June 23.
“We hope that at least now the agencies will show real and concrete progress in the probe,” the HC Bench observed.
“We expect the agencies to show promptness while investigating such cases. Both are premier agencies and should demonstrate vigilance. If you (CBI and CID) are facing any difficulties or any direct or indirect obstacles, then be candid and say so,” the Bench said.
The HC Bench asked both the agencies get in touch with the victims’ families as they might have some valuable information and also the police officers who investigated the two cases in the initial phase, before the two cases were transferred to independent agencies.
On his part, Public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde, appearing for the State CID, told the High Court that it had already filed chargesheet against the lone arrested accused Sameer Gaikwad in the Govind Pansare case.
Pansare (82) and his wife Uma (67) had been shot from a close range, near their residence “Ideal Housing Society” at around 8.30 am on February 16 2015, when the couple was returning from a morning walk from the Shivaji University campus at Kolhapur. Four days later, Pansare succumbed to injuries sustained in the shoot-out, while his wife Uma survived the attack.
Pansare’s murder, it may recalled, had come on the heels of a gruesome murder of 69-year-old anti-superstition campaigner Dabholkar, who was shot dead him 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.
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.
Amid wide-spread criticism over the investigating agencies’ failure to crack the Narenda Dabholkar murder case even two years after the sensational crime, the Maharashtra Government subsequently on August 20 2015 announced that it would depute a seven-member team of its police officials to assist CBI in the investigations into the case.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the State CID, which is investigating the Govind Pansare murder case, had arrested Sanatan Sanstha activist Samir Gaikwad on September 16 last year. Subsequently, the SIT filed a charge-sheet against the lone accused in the case.