The killing of anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar five years ago did not stop the expansion of his city-based organisation which has spread its wings in several states and is present even in faraway Assam. Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) or Maharashtra Blind faith Eradication Committee has intensified the unfinished work of its founder Dabholkar and entered new territories like Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, said a functionary of the outfit on Monday.

Dabholkar, a trained doctor who gave up his profession to take up the rationalist cause, was shot dead by gunmen on August 20, 2013. Today is his fifth death anniversary. Milind Deshmukh, state chief secretary, MANS, said till 2013, the number of branches of the organisation was around 250.