CBI suspect same weapon used in Dabholkar, Gauri Lankesh murder cases

NP NEWS NETWORK 

Pune

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday informed a judicial magistrate court that the pistol which has been recovered from Sachin Andhure was used in Gauri Lankesh killing, adding that some of the accused in the Gauri Lankesh case are associated with Andhure and connected with Dabholkar murder case.

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Dr Narendra Dabholkar (67), rationalist and founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was shot dead on 20 August 2013, by two unidentified gunmen on bridge near Omkareshwar temple. Andhure is accused of being one of the shooters, while Sharad Kalaskar is the other accused.

On August 19, Andhure was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS which handed him over to CBI. He was later produced in a Pune court and remanded to custody till August 26 (Sunday). After expiry of his custody, CBI again produced him before the court. There was heavy police security at the district court premises in Shivajinagar.

“During the interrogation of accused Andhure he revealed that one of the arrested accused of Gauri Lankesh case had handed over one 7.65 mm country made pistol and three bullets to him. Andhure passed them to his brother-in-law Shubham Surale in Aurangabad on August 11 this year. After Andhure was arrested, Surale passed the pistol and bullets to his friend Rohit Rajendra Rege. We conducted search at Rege’s house in Aurangabad and seized the weapon and the live bullets”, stated CBI investigating officer S R Singh in the remand application.

Gauri Lankesh (55), journalist-turned-activist was shot dead outside her residence in Bengaluru on 5 September 2017.

The agency also informed the court that they are trying to trace the motorcycle used in the crime and also take custody of another accused Sharad Kalaskar, another shooter in Dabholkar case. “We have already obtained production warrant from Pune court to get custody of Kalaskar who is in custody of Maharashtra ATS till August 28. We need custody of Andhure so that both of them can be interrogated together. In addition to this CBI is also in process of getting police custody of other accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case (being investigated by Karnataka Police SIT). Some of the accused in Gauri Lankesh case are also connected with Dabholkar murder case”, CBI application further states.

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Defence lawyer Prakash Salsingikar opposed police custody demand by CBI. “The agency had earlier chargesheeted Sanatan Sanstha’s Virendra Tawde and they have stated clearly that Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar, both of them are wanted, had shot at Dabholkar. Before that they had arrested Manish Nagori and Vikas Khandelwal. Now CBI is saying that Andhure is involved. The agency is misleading the court”, Salsingikar argued.

After hearing both sides, the magistrate extended Andhure’s custody till August 30.

The defence lawyer also alleged that he was not allowed to meet Andhure even after order of the court. To this, the court directed CBI to allow him to meet Andhure for 15 minutes and the lawyer has to inform the agency few hours in advance.

Andhure’s relative tie Rakhi in courtroom –

Andhure’s sister had sent Rakhi for him. As she could not come, another relative tied the Rakhi in the courtroom, after taking permission from the magistrate.

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