A special court in Pune is likely to announce its verdict on Friday in the murder case of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead during a morning walk on the Omkareshwar bridge on August 20, 2013.
Additional sessions judge AA Jadhav of the special court for cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act will give the verdict, according to special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi, according to a PTI report.
The report adds that during the trial the prosecution presented 20 witnesses and the defense questioned two. The prosecution claimed that the accused were opposed to Dabholkar’s crusade against superstition.
The matter was initially investigated by the Pune police before being taken up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014, following a decision by the Bombay High Court. Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, an ENT doctor affiliated with the right-wing Hindu organization Sanatan Sanstha, was arrested in June 2016 and the prosecution charged him with complicity in the murder, the PTI report added.
According to the news agency report, the CBI initially charged fugitives Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the shooters, but later arrested Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, alleging direct involvement in the murder. The agency also arrested lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave as alleged accomplices.
The accused are charged under numerous provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including conspiracy and murder, as well as relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the report added.
According to the report, some of the accused are in prison, while others are free on bail. Dabholkar’s murder was followed by similar cases involving other rationalists/activists, raising suspicions of a link between the crimes.
According to the PTI report, Dabholkar’s murder was followed by the murders of rationalists/activists – communist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur, Kannada scholar and writer MM Kalburgi in Dharwad and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru. While Pansare was killed in February 2015, Kalburgi was killed months later in August, and Lankesh was shot dead in September 2017.