A Kolhapur court on Thursday extended the police custody of Dr. Virendra Tawde in the murder of veteran Communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare till September 16.
Tawde, a rightwing Hindutva activist, was arrested in June by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged complicity in the 2013 murder of rationalist-thinker Dr. Narendra Dabholkar.
Tawde was produced in the court of first class judicial magistrate U.B. Kalpagar at the Kolhapur district and sessions court on Thursday.
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Tawde is being questioned by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the Kolhapur police for his possible involvement in the attack on Govind Pansare, who was shot outside his home in Kolhapur in February last year.
In a further development in the investigation, a witness has identified absconding Sanatan Sanstha activist Vinay Pawar, who was spotted conducting an alleged reconnaissance of the Sagar Mal locality (where Mr. Pansare lived) before the veteran Communist leader’s murder. The CBI’s charge sheet in Dr. Dabholkar’s murder had named Pawar and another absconding Sanatan activist, Sarang Akolkar.
Last week, the SIT unit had approached the Yerawada jail authorities in Pune, where Tawde was lodged, seeking his custody to probe his involvement in Mr. Pansare’s murder.
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Earlier in June, a special court had granted the SIT permission to ascertain Tawde’s role in the Pansare murder, noting the similarities in the two murders.