The Supreme Court has recently asked the CBI whether there was any “common thread” in the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, CPI leader Govind Pansare, activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar MM Kalburgi.
Narendra Dabholkar, who fought against superstition, met his demise as two assailants on a motorcycle shot him during his morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013. Govind Pansare was assassinated on February 20, 2015, Gauri Lankesh was slain on September 5, 2017, and MM Kalburgi was fatally shot on August 30, 2015.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia posed this query to the CBI while hearing a plea by Mukta Dabholkar, the daughter of Narendra Dabholkar, who challenged the April 18 order of the Bombay High Court this year that declined to sustain the oversight of the investigation into her father’s murder.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Mukta Dabholkar, apprised the bench of a larger conspiracy behind these 4 killings. He indicated that the existing evidence suggests potential connections among these cases, a matter that Mukta Dabholkar raised before the high court.
Justice Dhulia asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appeared for the CBI, “The accused who are facing a trial (in Dabholkar case), according to you, there is no common thread in those four murders? Right? That is what you are saying?”
“That is what we want to know,” Justice Kaul said, and asked the CBI to “Please look into it”.
As Grover commenced his arguments about the issues at hand, the bench informed him that the high court asserted that the trial in the Dabholkar murder case was underway and some witnesses have already been examined.
The bench asked him, “so therefore we (high court) don’t want to monitor it any further. What is wrong with such an observation?”
Grover noted that despite the ongoing trial, two of the accused remain absconding and have yet to be apprehended.
Providing an update on the Dabholkar murder case, Bhati informed the bench that 20 witnesses have thus far testified during the trial.
The bench told Bhati that the petitioner has also alleged a larger spread of the conspiracy.
It was further conveyed that the petitioner’s counsel requires two weeks to submit certain documents along with translated relevant portions, which would facilitate the ASG’s examination of the larger conspiracy implicated in these killings.
The bench stated and ordered the listing of the matter after 8 weeks, “ASG is granted four weeks thereafter to examine the aforesaid issue.”
Grover told the apex court on May 18 that the CBI suspected that there could be a common link in the killings of Dabholkar, Pansare and Lankesh.
He stated, “The investigation has found that weapons used in these subsequent incidents (the killing of Pansare and Lankesh) and Dabholkar murder were the same and people involved in the crimes were also the same. Hence, CBI wanted to do further investigation.”
On April 18, the high court, after nine years of monitoring the Narendra Dabholkar investigation, determined that no additional vigilance over the inquiry was necessary. The court disposed of several petitions, including the one presented by Mukta Dabholkar, advocating for continued monitoring.
In 2014, the high court transferred the investigation from Pune police to the CBI following a petition submitted by Mukta Dabholkar and another activist.
In 2021, a special Pune court formally charged Virendra Singh Tawde, alleged to be the mastermind behind the crime. The charges included murder, criminal conspiracy, and terrorism-related offenses under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Sanjeev Punalekar, another defendant, faced charges related to the destruction of evidence.
