A month after noted Communist leader and activist Govind Pansare was shot, the Maharashtra police have recorded the testimony of his wife, Uma, the prime eyewitness in the >February 16 shooting in Kolhapur district that sent shockwaves across the State.
Police sources said that according to Ms. Pansare’s statement, the killers were young men, who did not wear masks and spoke Marathi.
Ms. Pansare, who was grievously wounded in the attack, has told the police that the assailants were watching the house before she and her husband left for their morning stroll. She further revealed that after they returned from a brief walk, the same two men, speaking in Marathi, had inquired as to the whereabouts of a certain person named More.
After the elderly couple answered in the negative, the youth riding pillion gave a nasty, disconcerting grin, Ms. Pansare recalled, said the police.
“The fact that Ms. Pansare stressed was that she could distinguish between the accents of locals and those of the assailants. This could be an important clue that may help in determining whether the shooters were from Kolhapur or from some other part of Maharashtra,” said a senior police official, while remarking that Ms. Pansare could not speak for long stretches of time as she had not yet fully recovered.
Despite more than 12 investigating teams combing the State for clues and the Devendra Fadnavis government announcing a massive bounty on the assailants, the police have failed to make any headway in Mr. Pansare’s murder even a month later.
“Even if the police are claiming that the investigation is progressing in the right direction, they do not appear to have even scratched the surface of this case. Further, the State Home Minister too is silent on the progress. Is there a lack of political will somewhere?” said Smita Pansare, Mr. Pansare’s daughter.
Meanwhile, noted social activist and veteran trade unionist Baba Adhav on Monday alleged that “Sanatan forces” were responsible behind Mr. Pansare’s killing.
Noting that the shooting was the handiwork of “upper-caste, reactionary elements,” Mr. Adhav censured the State and police machinery for failing to bring the murderers to book even after a month of the gruesome incident, alleging that the Devendra Fadnavis government was not genuinely interested in nabbing the assailants.
