Known for his tremendous efforts towards eradication of superstitious practices, Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was murdered in Pune on August 20, 2013. From day one to Bhave’s bail recently, let’s take a quick look at the crucial twists and turns witnessed in the investigation so far.

• In January 2014, Pune Police’s team investigating the murder presented arms dealer Vilas Khandelwal and Manish Nagori as Dr. Dabholkar’s murderers in the court. Both made a sensational claim during the hearing that the then ATS chief, Rakesh Maria had urged them to confess killing the anti-superstition activist in exchange for Rs. 25 lakh. Both retracted from their statement later and secured bail.

• In June 2014, the Bombay High Court transferred the probe to the CBI on the insistence of former journalist, activist Ketan Tirodkar while hearing his petition on the issue.

• On February 16, 2015, Kolhapur-based Communist leader Govind Pansare’s murder shook the state.

• Kolhapur Police had received inputs regarding Dr. Virendrasingh (also known as Virendra) Tawde’s suspicious activities. But no action was taken. In June 2016, Tawde was arrested for involvement in Dabholkar murder case. Then, the SIT named him in Pansare murder case as well.

• The SIT formed to investigate the case initially named Rudra Patil, Vinay Pawar, Sarang Akolkar as accused, and Tawde as the conspirator in November 2016.

• CBI charge sheet for Dr. Narendra Dabholkar murder case filed in September 2016 named Tawde as a prime conspirator and Sarang Akolkar, Vinay Pawar as killers who shot the anti-superstition activist in Pune.  As Pawar and Akolkar were untraceable, the CBI issued sketches and declared a reward of Rs. 5 lakh to people who offer information about their whereabouts.

• April 2018 brought a different twist when Maharashtra CID’s senior counsel Ashok Mundargi admitted in the court that investigations in Pansare and Dabholkar murder have failed to yield results. There was no point left in any further field probe, and only evidence or scientific research can help.

• Again, in August 2018, the investigation changed its direction with the introduction of a new set of suspects. During Maharashtra ATS’s probe into alleged terror conspiracy, the agency officials arrested Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, and Vaibhav Raut from Nalasopara. Anti-terrorism squad officers claim Kalaskar revealed and Sachin Andure shot Dabholkar during interrogation. He also named Amol Kale as one of the conspirators. Chinchwad-based Kale has been named in Gauri Lankesh murder case as well.

• ATS officials arrested Sachin Andure and revealed they had recovered the murder weapon used in the anti-superstition activist’s murder from Andure’s brother-in-law’s friend’s house. He was handed over to the CBI for further investigation by the ATS as the cops probing Nalasopara case did not find anything against him during the inquiry.

• After failing to prove anything substantial in the court, the CBI SP Nandkumar Nair also allegedly threatened Andure and said he would get his wife raped if he does not confess killing rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. The surprising aspect is that the media or human rights activists did not debate on Nair’s misbehavior in spite of Andure and his lawyer putting this on record in front of the court.

• Bombay High Court’s observations in March 2019 brought further embarrassment for the CBI and state CID. The court stressed on the point that investigative agencies should not solely rely on the leads found in Gauri Lankesh murder case to investigate Dabholkar, Pansare murder and the state has become a laughing stock due to shoddy investigation in such cases.

• In May 2019, the CBI stumped everyone by arrested Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar who works as a counsel for Sanatan Sanstha and has defended some of the accused persons linked with multiple right-wing outfits in the past. They also arrested his associate Vikram Bhave, who happens to a convict in the 2008 Thane bomb blast case.

The new theory presents advocate Punalekar as one of the conspirators and Bhave as one of the shooters in Dr. Dabholkar murder case. Here’s what senior advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar had to say on the recent developments.

• “CBI claims the weapon used in some of the murders was disposed-off as per Adv Punalekar’s suggestion. But the agency has failed to offer any evidence to support their theory.  CBI also claims Kalaskar, Andure, and Bhave visited parts of Pune on the same bike to conduct a rehearsal before Dabholkar’s murder. The funny part in CBI’s claim is that they claim the accused traveled triple seat on the same bike throughout the city. How did they keep wondering around triple seat without being noticed?  Charge sheet filed in February 2019 against Andure and Kalaskar by the CBI does not name Bhave and Punalekar at all. They probably aim to keep on sensationalizing the case by arresting people and keeping them in jail without proving any charges.”

• “Investigation needs to be completed as soon as possible after detection of the crime. They cannot go on investigating something and arresting people even after six years. Now they claim one of the arrested accused told them Advocate Punalekar might be the one who allegedly planned down the murder to the last detail.”

• “Then, they want Punalekar to discuss details about the lawyer and a client’s privilege communication, which is against the law. The agency is not conducting an investigation; this is just an attempt to show that they are doing something. Adv Punalekar works for several clients, Hindu organizations and not just Sanatan Sanstha. CBI’s action is condemnable. Advocate Punalekar has attracted a lot of ire by extending support to Hindu activists facing fake cases. He has filed several petitions and fought in support of journalists as well as the weaker section of the society. He was also under the lens of some IPS officers who selectively leak information regarding cases under investigation and plant stories in the media to defame the undertrials.”

• Pune sessions court granted bail to Adv Punalekar in June 2019. Now, after spending two years in jail, Bhave was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on May 7.

• “Considering the nature of allegations and extent to which the CBI would be examining witnesses in the matter, it can be reasonably concluded that the beginning of the trial and its completion would take a long time. Therefore, the prayer for grant of bail deserves to be allowed by imposing conditions,” the court said on Friday, May 7, 2021.

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