Bombay HC asks Maha CID for report on progress in Govind Pansare killing probe

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra polices Criminal Investigation Department CID to submit a report detailing the progress made from 2020 till date in its probe into the killing of activist Govind Pansare in 2015A bench led by Justice Revati MohiteDere directed the CID to submit the report within four weeksThe CID last submitted a status report in the case in 2020The HCs direction came after Abhay Nevagi the counsel for Pansares family members told the court that the state police were yet to make any headway in the case even after seven years of the killingThe high court has been presiding over two petitions and several applications filed by the family members of Pansare and slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar seeking that the court monitor the probe into the two killingsWhile the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI is probing Dabholkars murder a special investigation team SIT of the Maharashtra polices CID is conducting a probe into Pansares killingOn Thursday the bench also permitted the state government to relieve Additional SP Tirupati Kakade the current investigating officer IO in the Pansare caseKakade is due for a transfer after heading the probe for over fourandahalf years Since a previous direction of the Bombay High Court mandated that none of the officers probing the two cases be changed without the courts permission the state government approached the HC on ThursdayThe bench led by Justice MohiteDere allowed the states request for relieving Kakade saying a new IO must be appointed within four weeks and only then Kakade can take charge of his new postingThe state informed the court that there were 15 officers in the SIT probing the case of whom two retired recently and one had died of COVID19Nevagi also filed an application claiming the killings of Dabholkar Pansare and slain Kannada activist and academic MM Kalburgi were all linkedHe sought a direction from the HC to the Maharashtra AntiTerrorism Squad ATS to probe who was the mastermind behind the three killingsThe high court is yet to pass any direction on the applicationLet them state CID first give the status report from 2020 to 2022 in the Pansare case the HC saidDhabolkar was shot dead on August 20 2013 in Pune while he was on a morning walkPansare was shot at on February 16 2015 in Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20 Kalburgi was shot to death in Dharwad Karnataka on August 30 2015The agencies probing the three killings said in court on previous occasions that the cases had some common links and accused personsThe Bombay HC has been hearing petitions filed by the kin of Dhabolkar and Pansare seeking that the court monitor the probe into both the casesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever