Pansare kin plea quashed by Supreme Court

In a setback to the kin of slain rationalist Govind Pansare, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the petition of activist-academic Megha Pansare seeking a stay in the framing of charges against the prime accused, Sameer Gaikwad, an activist of the fringe right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha.

‘Approach HC’

The court directed Ms. Pansare, daughter-in-law of Govind Pansare, to file a petition regarding the matter in the Bombay High Court instead.

However, the Bombay High Court has already refused to intervene in the matter, stating that the framing of the charges was left to the Kolhapur Sessions Court, which is expected to frame charges against Gaikwad on May 20.

The kin of both Mr. Pansare and slain rationalist-thinker Dr. Narendra Dabholkar have expressed grave concerns if the charges are framed against Gaikwad, fearing that a thorough probe into both murders would become impossible once the step was taken.

While the drawn-out, protracted investigation into Dr. Dabholkar’s murder, who was shot while taking his morning stroll in Pune in August 2013, has drawn a blank, the only arrest in Mr. Pansare’s case was that of Gaikwad, seven months after the Communist leader’s murder in February 2015.

Earlier last month, a CBI team had grilled Gaikwad twice for several hours at the Kalamba Central Jail in Kolhapur in a bid to ascertain his possible link in the murder of Dr. Dabholkar. Gaikwad was reportedly quizzed over his relationship with the 2009 Madgaon bomb blast case accused Rudra Patil, also a Sanatan member who is absconding, and to establish links between the murder of three rationalists, Dr. Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and scholar M. M. Kalburgi.