Nearly 11 Years After Rationalist Dabholkar was Shot Dead in Pune, 2 Get Life Imprisonment

New Delhi: Close to 11 years after rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, 67. was gunned down in broad daylight in Pune by two persons with alleged links with Goa-based Hindu radical outfit, Sanatan Sanstha, a special court in Pune convicted two alleged assailants, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, to life imprisonment on Friday. The other three accused were set free due to lack of evidence.

According to an Indian Express report, “the court acquitted ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, a Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave for the lack of evidence.” Tawade was the alleged mastermind of the killing.

Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two bike-borne while on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013. He was a part of the movement for developing scientific temper and reason, which posed a firm challenge to the narratives being peddled by the current regime. All his life, he fought against and raised awareness against superstition and black magic, caste-based division and fanaticism.

Dhabolkar’s murder was not an isolated incident. Communist leader Govind Pansare was killed in Kolhapur in 2015, author MM Kalburgi in Dharwad, Karnataka in 2015 and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in 2017 were assassinated, soon after, for similar reasons. All the targeted killing had led to widespread outrage.

According to an earlier report by news agency PTI, the High Court has been monitoring the probe since 2014 after which it was handed over to the CBI, with the agency submitting periodical reports to the court.

After the HC said last year that no further monitoring was required in the probe and disposed of the petition filed by Dabholkar's daughter, Mukta Dabholkar, seeking that the court continue monitoring of the case

It was the CBI that had charge-sheeted five accused in the case.

As per the Indian Express report, the special court in Pune had on September 15, 2021 framed charges against five accused, marking the beginning of the trial.

“All the five accused had pleaded not guilty to charges against them. While Tawade, Andure and Kalaskar are currently in prison, Bhave and Punalekar have been out on bail”, said the report.

Incidentally, in 2019, a NDTV report said that in a “chilling” 14-page-confession, Kalaskar had admitted to being linked to two other murders –- that of Pansare and Lankesh.

He also admitted to having shot twice at Dabholkar, in a 14-page confession statement to the Karnataka Police, as per the then NDTV report.