Court On Narendra Dabholkar’s Murder
The court said that prosecution failed to expose masterminds behind killing of Narendra Dabholkar. Pune: The investigating agencies could not expose the masterminds behind the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, and must introspect whether it was a mere failure or a “deliberate inaction” due to the influence of any “person in power,” the trial court here said on Friday in its judgement. The two assailants, who were convicted, were not the masterminds, Additional Sessions Judge P P Jadhav observed in the verdict. The special court for UAPA cases convicted assailants Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar in the 2013 murder case and sentenced them to life imprisonment, but acquitted alleged conspirators Dr Virendrasinh Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave for want of evidence. In his order, judge Jadhav noted that there was evidence about motive for the murder against Tawde, and reasonable suspicion against Punalekar and Bhave regarding involvement in the crime. But the prosecution failed to establish the same by converting the motive and suspicion into evidence, the order said. As to Andure and …