A Pune court on Friday rejected the second bail plea of key conspirator Dr. Virendra Tawde in the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013.
Arguing against grant of bail, Special Public Prosecutor Manoj Chaladan, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the agency was looking into possible links of Dr Tawde with Amol Kale, an accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru.
The CBI submitted documents related to both the murders in a sealed envelope. Dr. Tawde, a qualified ENT surgeon and a member of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti — a splinter group of the Sanatan Sanstha — was picked up by the CBI in June 2016.
He is also an accused in the murder of communist leader Govind Pansare in 2015 in Kolhapur. In January, a Kolhapur court granted him bail in the Pansare murder case.
Dr. Tawde was the first to be arrested nearly 34 months after the murder of Dabholkar.
He is charged with, among others, asking other accused of make cartridges used in the murder.
