Dabholkar Murder: Sharad Kalaskar gets judicial custody till Sept 29

Dr Narendra Dabholkar

Sharad Kalaskar, an accused in the Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case, was on Monday sent to judicial custody till September 29, for the investigation into his role in the murder.

Kalaskar was produced before Judicial Magistrate First Class SMA Sayeed's court for the remand hearing. CBI Counsel Vijaykumar Dhakane said Kalaskar had mentioned in his statement that four pistols were dismantled and thrown in creeks near Mumbai. Dhakane also said, "During interrogation, Kalaskar said he and Sachin Andure had never seen Dr Dabholkar, but had read a few articles about him in the newspaper published by Sanatan Sanstha. So, on the morning of August 20, someone who was walking by or following Dabholkar, signalled to the duo and then the shooter ran towards him. Kalaskar first fired two shots at Dabholkar and then Andure fired at him after which he collapsed."

Dhakane said Kalaskar told them the slides as well as barrels of four pistols were destroyed and disposed of at three spots on July 23, 2018, after media reports suspecting the link of Sanatan Sanstha to the murder. "The spots were Kalwa, Bhayander and Kalyan bridge. The duo, Kalaskar and Vaibhav Raut, had collected the weapons from Raut's house and left on a bike. As it was dark, Kalaskar is now unable to pinpoint the spots. But, those weapons could have been used in Dr Dabholkar's murder."

Dr Dabholkar was gunned down on August 20 in 2013 by two persons on a motorcycle at Omkareshwar bridge. On Saturday, the CBI had claimed that besides the two shooters, two more suspects were present at the spot. A CBI official later said, "We are probing the case and soon we will file the charge sheet."

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