Pune court acquits 3 'masterminds', family says fight will go on

The Pune Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI have failed to uncover the mastermind behind the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar prompting strong criticism from the special UAPA court In its order the court emphasised the need for introspection by both agencies to determine whether their failure stemmed from incompetence or deliberate inaction influenced by powerful individuals After more than 10 years the court acquitted three accused including alleged mastermind Dr Virendra Tawde as well as Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar and his associate Vikram BhaveThe court sentenced alleged shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar to life imprisonment but dropped the UAPA charges against both Dabholkar the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti MANS was killed by two motorcycleborne assailants while he was out for his morning walk in Pune on August 20 2013Mukta Dabholkar daughter of deceasedAs per the order Andure and Kalaskar have been convicted for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 43 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 325 of the Arms Act ldquoSection 302 attracts the highest punishment of death or life imprisonment Certainly this is not a rarest rare case attracting the death penalty Therefore there is no other option except the imprisonment for liferdquo the order readldquoAdmittedly except for ideological differences with the deceased Andure and Kalaskar did not have any personal enmity or rivalry against Dr Dabholkar The murder was committed with a very wellprepared plan which was executed by the accused Considering the economic and social status of the accused they are not the masterminds of the crimerdquo the court observedNarendra Dabholkar who was murdered in 2013According to the order the main mastermind behind the crime is someone else ldquoThe Pune police as well as the CBI has failed to unearth those masterminds They have to introspect whether it is their failure or deliberate inaction on their part due to the influence of any person in powerrdquo the order readDefencersquos approach slammedThe court further stated ldquoAt the same time the approach of the defence was to justify the killing of the deceased by labelling him antiHindu In the said attempt advocate Shri Salshingikar referred to a yearly magazine that was published more than five years after the death of Dr Dabholkar The said approach is very strange and is condemnablerdquoSharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure who allegedly shot rationalist Narendra DabholkarldquoAs already observed it was not an exclusive act of Andure and Kalaskar Unfortunately the prosecution has failed to unmask the mastermindsrdquo the court further commented The court acquitted three accused in the case but in its detailed judgment stated that there was evidence of motive for the murder of Dabholkar against Tawde and there was reasonable suspicion against Punalekar and Bhave showing their involvement in the crimeldquoHowever the prosecution has failed to establish the involvement of Tawade Punalekar and Bhave by leading reliable evidence to convert motive and suspicion into the form of evidence showing their involvement in the crime sicrdquo said the court The evidence against Andure and Kalaskar proves without a reasonable doubt that they killed Dabholkar by firing bullets the court statedAlleged rolesAccused Sanjeev Punalekar an advocate and Vikram Bhave his associateDuring the CBIrsquos investigation of the case it was revealed that Tawde discontinued his practice in 2000 and became associated with Sanatan Sanstha In 2003 he became coordinator of the organisation in Kolhapur The following year the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti HJS started its activities in Kolhapur and Tawde used to participate in them This was when differences arose between Tawde and Dabholkar Tawde had personally agitated against Dabholkar and attempted to disrupt programmes in which the latter was participating Tawde was arrested on June 10 2016 It was alleged that Tawde had hatched the conspiracy to murder DabholkarAccording to the Central Bureau of Investigation on September 17 2012 Punalekar sent a letter to Dabholkar opposing the views of the latter about water pollution and Ganesh visarjan The agency claimed that Kalaskar had visited Punalekarrsquos office in Mumbai and at the time Bhave was also present Kalaskar had opened up about his alleged role in the murder of Dabholkar Punalekar allegedly told Kalaskar to destroy the firearms used in the murder and accordingly he got rid of four countrymade pistols It was alleged Bhave had arranged for a motorcycle Andure and Kalaskar to conduct a recce about 15 days before the incident Bhave had allegedly shown the escape route to Andure and KaraskarThe prosecution has been stating that Dabholkar was the main force behind the Maharashtra Eradication of Black Magic Evil and Aghori Practices Bill 2005 and the Sanatan Sanstha was opposed to his ideology and activities It believes that this enmity was the main motive behind the murderDaughterrsquos reactionMukta Dabholkar expressed her thoughts on the recent developments in her fatherrsquos case stating ldquoThe court has convicted two accused after ten years affirming them as the shooters who took my fathers life sentencing them to life imprisonment and we welcome the verdict Some of these were also involved in the murders of Govind Pansare and journalist Gauri Lankesh and I believe they will face justice for those crimes as well Regarding the acquittal of the three accused we will pursue the matter in the higher court I urge the agencies to collaborate and work together as all these murder cases are interconnectedrdquoDr Virendra Tawde one of the alleged mastermindsShe added ldquoOur fight against superstition will persist Since the enactment of the AntiSuperstition and Black Magic Ordinance in 2013 several cases have been registered in the state under this Act thanks to my fathers relentless efforts and sacrifice In Maharashtra no one can promote miracles through black magic not even figures like Bageshwar Dham due to the stringent laws established as a result of my fatherrsquos dedicationrdquoSanstharsquos statementA statement issued by the Sanatan Sanstha on Friday read ldquoWe respect the verdict given by the honourable court The verdict has proven that the seekers of Sanatan Sanstha were innocent The conspiracy of lsquoUrban Naxalsrsquo to prove Sanatan Sanstha a lsquoHindu terrorist organisationrsquo has failed The conspiracy to use UAPA to prove Sanatan Sanstha a lsquosaffron terrorist organisationrsquo and ban it has been foiledDespite the convicted Hindu activists Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar neither being the officebearers of Sanatan Sanstha nor being directly involved in any of its activities we strongly feel that they too were implicated in this case Hence the advocates who fought this case and played a role in the acquittal of Sanatanrsquos seekers declared that they would appeal in the high court and fight for their acquittal We are confident that Andure and Kalaskar will be acquitted by the high courtThe organisation also alleged that the investigating agencies had constantly changed their stand and raised questions about whether members of the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti and Dabholkarrsquos family had pressurised witnesses and the agenciesThe organisation claimed that in the last 11 years 1600 lsquoseekers of Sanatanrsquo were interrogated and ashrams were raided ldquoThe case was prolonged in the name of finding the mastermind The CBI has stated in the charge sheet that after investigating all the office bearers of the Sanatan Sanstha no one was found guiltyrdquo the statement readAug 20Day in 2013 when Dabholkar was gunned down