A local court in Kolhapur extended the police custody of Sameer Gaikwad, prime suspect in the murder of Communist leader Govind Pansare, by another two days on Saturday.
This is the second time the Sanatan Sanstha activist’s police custody has been extended since his arrest on September 16.
With the Sanstha fielding 31 lawyers to defend Sameer, nearly 200 lawyers, expressing solidarity with Pansare, gathered at the courtroom to argue the case when the suspect was produced in the court.
During his interrogation, Sameer had said that he had been in Thane at the time of Pansare’s murder on February 16. Pansare and his wife were shot at by motorcycle-borne assailants outside their home in Kolhapur.
Arguing for the extension of police custody, the Special Public Prosecutor said the scrutiny of Sameer’s call records was still incomplete and that his claims that he was in Thane on the day of the killing needed to be investigated.
The prosecution had earlier said that records of his phone conversation with his sister Anjali and friend Jyoti Kamble in Mumbai pointed to his involvement in the conspiracy.
The police said that of the 31 SIM cards recovered from him, one was active in Kolhapur on the day of the murder.
