S R Singh, the CBI officer who investigated the Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case, will depose as a witness before the special court on Tuesday.
Singh, who is now retired, is considered to be an important prosecution witness in view of key contradictions that emerged in the murder probe.
An anti-superstition activist and founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANIS), Dabholkar was shot dead on the V R Shinde Bridge in Pune by two persons on the morning of August 20, 2013.
The case was initially investigated by the Pune city police, who arrested illegal firearms dealer Manish Nagori and Vilas Khandelwal on June 20, 2014.
This arrest was on the basis of a ballistic report of firearms seized from the duo when they were arrested by Mumbra police in an extortion case on August 20, 2013, the day Dabholkar was murdered in Pune. The report suggested that one of the firearms (seized from Khandelwal) matched the тАЬmarkingsтАЭ on a cartridge seized from the crime scene in Pune.
Both Nagori and Khandelwal were later released on bail. The CBI took over the investigation of this case in 2014 and has till now has not named them as accused.
On June 10, 2016, CBI arrested Sanatan Sanstha-linked Dr Virendra Tawde in the Dabholkar case. In the charge sheet filed against Tawde on September 8, 2016, CBI stated that owing to the ideological differences between DabholkarтАЩs ANIS and Sanatan Sanstha, Tawade conspired with Sanstha activists Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar and others to murder Dabholkar.
тАЬтАж..in pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy, Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar shot dead Dr. Dabholkar on August 20, 2013 at about 7.25 am at Pune,тАЭ the chargesheet stated.
In 2017, CBI announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information on Pawar and Akolkar. The CBI also released a pamphlet carrying sketches of the two suspects asking those with information to contact the then investigation officer S R Singh.
However, contradicting these claims, the CBI team headed by the same officer arrested two others, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, in August 2018, and submitted to the court that these two had shot Dabholkar.
CBI charge-sheeted Tawade in 2016, Andure and Kalaskar in February 2019, and Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave in November 2019, for their alleged involvement in DabholkarтАЩs murder. Punalekar and Bhave, both linked to Sanatan Sanstha, are out on bail.
In September 2021, the special UAPA court had framed charges in the murder case against four of the accused тАФ Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave тАФ for murder, conspiracy to commit murder along with Section 16 of the UAPA pertaining to terrorist acts, and various provisions of the Arms Act for the use of firearms. The court charged Punalekar with destruction of evidence in the case. All five accused have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In October 2021, CBI submitted before the court a list of 32 witnesses to be examined during the trial. Advocate Suryawanshi said so far 19 witnesses have been examined before the court.
On Monday, Sanjay Kumar (now retired), who was the additional chief secretary (home) at the time when sanction was provided to CBI for charging the accused under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), was examined before special judge S R Navandar. Special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi confirmed that S R Singh will depose before the court on Tuesday.
