The sessions court on Tuesday directed Sharad Kalaskar, an accused in the Nallasopara arms haul case, to be remanded to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s custody for six days till September 10 in connection with the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.
The agency has named Kalaskar, along with Sachin Andure, an Aurangabad resident, as the two shooters who fired at Dr. Dabholkar when the latter was out for a morning stroll on August 20, 2013.
Kalaskar was produced amid tight security before the court of magistrate S.M.A. Sayyed.
Wider conspiracy
Arguing for a 14-day custody, CBI counsel Vijaykumar Dhakane submitted before the court that Kalaskar was an expert in arms manufacturing and that the agency needed time to unearth the wider conspiracy that linked the murders of other rationalist-activists, communist leader Govind Pansare and journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Advocate Dhakane further reiterated the need to confront Andure with Kalaskar in the Dr. Dabholkar murder case while stating that Rajesh Bangera (an accused in the Gauri Lankesh case) had instructed both Andure and Kalaskar in the use of firearms.
Arguing against Kalaskar’s custody, defence counsel Dharmraj Chandel presented that the CBI, since taking over the probe from the Pune police in May 2014, had effected its first arrest (that of Dr. Virendra Tawde, an ENT specialist and radical Hindutva activist) in the Dabholkar murder case only in June 2016.
He further accused the agency of attempting to prejudice the court by linking Kalaskar’s name with the Govind Pansare and Gauri Lankesh murders.
“The CBI’s charge sheet filed against Dr. Tawde in September 2016 already gave a clear narrative of the events of the murder besides naming Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the two shooters,” said advocate Chandel.
He stated that despite taking Sachin Andure into custody on August 19, the agency failed to unearth any concrete evidence.
“The CBI has yet to conclusively prove that the pistol and cartridges recovered during the agency’s raids in Aurangabad was the one Andure had used to kill Dr. Dabholkar. In light of this, seeking Kalaskar’s custody is completely unwarranted,” argued advocate Chandel, speaking to The Hindu .
He observed that the agency had merely reconstructed the crime by taking Andure to the murder spot during the time the authorities had him in their custody.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested Kalaskar along with fringe rightwing activist Vaibhav Raut from Nallasopara in Mumbai, and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar from Pune on August 10, for allegedly planning disruptive activities in several parts of the State.
During his interrogation by the ATS, Kalaskar, a native of Aurangabad who had shifted to Kolhapur a while ago, had allegedly confessed that he and Andure were the motorcycle-borne assailants who had gunned down Dr. Dabholkar.
Kalaskar’s ATS remand expired on Monday, following which the CBI then secured his custody in connection with the Dr. Dabholkar murder case.
The CBI had arrested Andure on August 18. The Pune sessions court on September 1 had remanded him to judicial custody after the CBI stated that his custodial interrogation was not essential. Andure is presently lodged in the Yerwada central prison.
