Dabholkar murder: Court asks Pune cops to get accused's guns

City police’s application asking the court to issue directives to Mumbra police to handover the pistols seized from the accused was rejected yesterday, and the judge asked the cops to use the powers vested in them to get hold of the evidence

Pune: With the arrest of alleged illegal arms dealer Manish Nagori and aide Vikas Khandelwal in connection with the murder of anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar by the Mumbra cops, the Pune police want possession of the case evidence for further investigation. They wrote to the court requesting it to instruct the Mumbra police to entrust the pistols seized by the accused in the case. The Judicial Magistrate (First Class) A B Shaikh however was not in favour of it and rejected their plea on Wednesday.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Madhav Poul said, “JMFC Shaikh has stated in his order that since it’s the same department, police can exercise their powers to acquire the seized weapons. So there is no need for this court to issue directions to the Mumbra police.”

Investigating Officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime I) Rajendra Bhamare had submitted an application as per the provisions of Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (see box). Police believe that Dabholkar was shot by the same weapon recovered from Khandelwal, which was given to him by Nagori — an arms dealer active in western Maharashtra. Police also claim that the ballistics report obtained by them established the fact that the bullet recovered from the crime scene (in pic) was fired from the same weapon seized from Khandelwal.

Nagori and Khandelwal are presently in custody of the Pune Crime Branch. The Mumbra police in an extortion case arrested them on August 20 last year – on the same day when Dabholkar was shot dead by two assailants on the Omkareshwar Mandir Bridge in Narayan Peth.

Meanwhile, sources from Crime Branch said that the police might file another application seeking permission to conduct narco-analysis tests on Nagori and Khandelwal. ACP Bhamare however denied any such application being made.

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