Five days after a murderous attack on his life, veteran Communist leader and eminent activist Govind Pansare was shifted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai for advanced treatment.
The 82-year-old Mr. Pansare was shifted to Mumbai via air ambulance from Kolhapur after doctors treating him at the Aster Aadhar hospital there gave their approval. His family doctor, Ajay Keni, accompanied him as well.
Announcing the Maharashtra Government’s decision to shift Mr. Pansare, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters in Nagpur that the decision was reached in consultation with doctors in Kolhapur only after the family had given their sanction.
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Stating that the probe into Mr. Pansare’s shooting was “on the right track”, Mr. Fadnavis assured that the investigating teams would nab the assailants very soon.
“As of now, he is stable. But doctors here felt there was a need to preempt any multi-organ complication especially after the bullet from his shoulder had been removed,” said academic and activist Megha Pansare, Mr. Pansare’s daughter-in-law.
Meanwhile, despite preparing sketches of the probable assailants based on the eye-witness descriptions, the State police have, as yet, drawn a blank in the investigations and have failed to come up with anything significant despite detaining and quizzing several arms dealers.
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While officials continue to be tight-lipped on the progress of the probe, the police have recorded the testimony of Mr. Pansare’s wife, Uma, who was grievously injured in the attack, sustaining a depressed skull fracture after the shooting.
The police have shown Mrs. Pansare several sketches and are trying to glean vital clues as she was the key witness to the shooting.
To protest against the shooting, dedicated volunteers of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) gathered in Pune demanding speedy justice for Mr. Pansare and Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, who was murdered in a similar fashion in Pune in August 2013.
“There has been no progress in bringing the murderers of my father to justice more than 18 months after the killing. If such a fate befalls the investigation into Mr. Pansare’s shooting, then it is sending an ominous message to society that any man who stands up for his ideas can be ruthlessly mowed down while his murderers get away with impunity,” said activist Mukta Dabholkar, Dr. Dabholkar’s daughter, while ruing that her father’s murder was today looked upon as a “cold-case’ in investigating circles.
While angry protests mount against Mr. Pansare’s shooting, a public interest litigation (PIL) filed before the Bombay High Court earlier in the week has alleged that the State government was aware of the threat to Mr. Pansare’s life and has sought a CBI probe into the shooting.
The PIL, filed by activist Ketan Tirodkar, says the police ought to have prepared a threat perception report (TPR) and kept a vigil on Mr. Pansare’s movements as the incident was virtually similar to Dr. Dabholkar’s murder.
After Dr. Dabholkar’s murder, Mr. Tirodkar had filed a PIL in the Mumbai High Court seeking a CBI inquiry following which the court had transferred the investigation to the CBI.