HC transfers probe into killing of activist Govind Pansare to Maha ATS from CID

Over seven years after the killing of activist Govind Pansare the Bombay High Court on Wednesday transferred the probe into the case to the Maharashtras AntiTerrorism Squad ATSA Special Investigation Team SIT of the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department CID was investigating the case till nowA division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh said it was allowing the application filed by Pansares family members and transferring the probe to the ATSThe SIT was constituted in 2015 following a Bombay High Court order passed on a plea filed by Pansares family members seeking such a special teamPansare was shot at on February 16 2015 in Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20Also readBombay HC asks Maha CID for report on progress in Govind Pansare killing probeThe CID was probing the case and had arrested a few peopleThe activists family members last month filed an application in the high court seeking for the probe to be transferred to the ATS claiming that the SIT has not been able to make a breakthrough in the case yetSenior counsel Ashok Mundargi appearing for the SIT told the court that it does not have any objection if the probe is transferred to the ATS as that too is a state government agencyWe are agreeable The ATS can be appointed and for continuation a few officers from the SIT shall assist the ATS Mundargi saidWhen the court questioned as to which senior officer would be heading the probe Mundargi said Additional Director General ADG was the senior most officer of the ATS and he would supervise the probeAdvocate Abhay Nevagi appearing for Pansares family told the court that the masterminds behind the killing and the shooters are still unidentified and at largeAccording to the SIT there are around 40 more persons in the hitlist of the people behind Pansares killing This includes his family members the family of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Medha Patkar We only want the masterminds to be nabbed Nevagi saidThe court on Wednesday also refused to consider applications filed by three accused arrested in the Dabholkar and Pansare killing case opposing the probe to be transferred to another agency at this stageBoth Mundargi and Nevagi opposed the application arguing that the accused persons have no say on which agency should be probing the caseThis 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