The former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Wednesday admitted that the former Police Commissioner of Pune Gulabrao Pol had resorted to ‘black magic’ in an attempt to nab the killers of rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar.
“When it came to our knowledge that the top policeman was using black magic, we immediately transferred him so as to send out the right message to the public,” Mr. Pawar said here.
Dr. Dabholkar was gunned down in Pune in August 2013. At the time, the Congress-NCP government and Mr. Pol, who was the Pune police chief, had vehemently denied that a séance was conducted to ‘communicate with Dr. Dabholkar’s spirit and seek clues to crack the case.’
A State police inquiry had given a clean chit to Mr. Pol. Investigation by the police and CBI has drawn a blank. Mr. Pawar’s statement, while shocking rationalists and activists across Maharashtra, is merely a confirmation of what was long suspected, said Hamid Dabholkar, son of Narendra Dabholkar.
Hamid Dabholkar told The Hindu that the government ought to have booked Mr. Pol and self-styled godman Manish Thakur under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.
