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High Court pulls up CBI for shoddy probe in two murder cases

Mumbai - Pansare, a communist leader from Kolhapur, an author and a rationalist, was also shot in his hometown in February 2015. He succumbed to injuries a few days later.

  The Bombay High Court once again slammed the CBI and the special investigation team (SIT) probing the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and communist leader Govind for the slow pace of investigation.
Just last week, the court had criticised the tardiness on the part of the CBI and the SIT and had wondered "how many more murder anniversaries and status reports one must wait before any concrete leads can be obtained in the two cases?"
It had also asked the two agencies to submit a status report by Tuesday. However, the court on Tuesday said it was not satisfied with the progress in the two murder cases and asked the probe agencies to submit a progress report by June 23. "Even common people can see the link between the murders of rationalists, which the investigating agencies have not been able to establish," Hamid Dabholkar, the son of the late anti-superstition activist told Khaleej Times on Tuesday. "There is no personal motive behind the murders, the reasons are ideological."
Dabholkar, a doctor and a rationalist, was at the forefront of a campaign that hoped to convince the Maharashtra government to pass an anti-superstition and black magic bill. He was killed in August 2013 in Pune in broad daylight. Many right wing groups had been opposed to the legislation and to Dabholkar's anti-superstition campaigns and had often threatened him.
Pansare, a communist leader from Kolhapur, an author and a rationalist, was also shot in his hometown in February 2015. He succumbed to injuries a few days later.
Activists have criticised both the Congress-NCP regime (which lost power in October 2014) and the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government for the lackadaisical manner in which the police and other agencies have conducted the probe into the two murders.
According to Hamid, the SIT probing the Pansare case in Kolhapur does not have any senior officers, as those who were transferred have not been replaced.
The CBI too has been probing his father's murder for more than two years, but has little to show by way of arrests. Are the family members of the two rationalists disappointed with the manner in which the agencies are dealing with the cases? "We believe in democracy and are hopeful that the culprits will finally be caught," says Hamid.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com

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