When will Govt, probe agencies nab masterminds behind the crime? – Hamid Dabholkar

@the_news_21

Pune: As August 20 marks the eighth anniversary of the brutal murder of rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) has yet again questioned the lack of political will among the ruling powers and the tardiness of probe agencies in bringing to book the masterminds behind the crime.  

Dr. Hamid Dabholkar, son of the late rationalist said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till date had arrested ENT practitioner Dr. Virendra Tawde in 2016 (whom the agency had in fact referred to as ‘mastermind’); Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure in August 2018 (named as the ‘sharpshooters’), and lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave in May 2019 as suspects in the crime.  

“The investigation into the murder has come to a halt with the names of Dr Virendra Tawde and Amol Kale. It is not known at this time how they are planning to proceed further. The CBI must get to the bottom of this case by unravelling the masterminds, else the threat to the expression of rationalists, progressive activists and journalists in the country will not end. The CBI has yet to file a chargesheet against Amol Kale and against Amit Degvekar and Rajesh Bangera (prime suspects in the Gauri Lankesh murder),” said Hamid Dabholkar.  

Two motorcycle-borne assailants had killed Dr. Dabholkar on August 20, 2013 with a 7.65-mm country-made pistol when he was taking his morning stroll on the Omkareshwar Bridge in Pune.

Veteran Communist leader Govind Pansare, and his wife Uma, were similarly shot at close range from two 7.65-mm country-made weapons. The same modus operandi was used in the murder of scholar-rationalist M.M. Kalburgi, who was chillingly murdered by two unidentified assailants outside his home in Dharwad in Karnataka as well as senior journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot to death outside her Bengaluru residence in September 2017. 

“Even probe agencies have expressed that a common thread runs through these murders and those arrested have a hand in all these crimes with same weapons being used. The Bombay High Court, too, is urging probe agencies to expedite the investigation and uncover the mastermind behind these crimes,” said Hamid Dabholkar.   

He said that the last arrest in connection with all four murders was made in January 2020 with the Karnataka SIT arresting Rishikesh Devdikar, a suspect in the murder of Gauri Lankesh from Jharkhand.  

“He (Devdikar) was working at a petrol pump there, which shows how far the hands of this murderous combine has spread. The supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI states that the connection of the suspects in the case with the murders of Govind Pansare, Prof. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh has come to light and it is clear that these are not just murders but an act of terrorism. Therefore, the accused have been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967,” he observed. 

Dr. Hamid said that the assassination of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar has not deterred the activities of the MANS but has spurred the work of eradicating superstition and building a progressive society. 

“This work is moving forward with the firm belief that killing a person does not end the thought. On August 20 every year for the past eight years, activists of MANS and like-minded organizations come together to protest against the murder of Dr. Dabholkar and express their determination to take his work forward with vigour,” he said.  

This year, the Dr. Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Lecture, which will be held in Pune, will see eminent journalist and Ramon Magsaysay awardee P. Sainath, who is Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), as the keynote speaker, informed Hamid Dabholkar.  

“Sainath will be speaking on the challenges facing Indian democracy and rationalist forces in his address. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this memorial lecture has been organized online,” he said.