(MENAFN- Live Mint) "A Special Court in Pune on Friday acquitted three accused including Virendrasinh Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave in the activist Narendra Dabholkar murder case, ANI reported.
Besides this, the court also sent the other two accused - Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar sent to life imprisonment for allegedly killing Narendra Dabholkar in Pune on August 20, 2013 Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS, or Maharashtra Eradication of Superstition Committee), was killed by two bike-borne assailants in Pune on 20 August 2013, while he was out on his morning walk.
Initially, Pune police investigated the case. However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) assumed control of the investigation in 2014, following an order from the Bombay High Court. In June 2016, they apprehended Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, an ENT surgeon associated with the Hindu right-wing organization Sanatan Sanstha prosecution examined 20 witnesses while the defence examined two witnesses during the trial. The accused were opposed to Dabholkar's crusade against superstition, the prosecution had stated in its final arguments to the prosecution, Tawade was one of the masterminds of the murder. Sanatan Sanstha, to which Tawade and some of the other accused were linked, was opposed to the work carried out by Dabholkar's organisation, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (committee for eradication of superstition, Maharashtra), it claimed its initial charge sheet, the CBI identified fugitives Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the shooters. However, in a subsequent development, the agency apprehended Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar. In a supplementary charge sheet, the CBI asserted that Andure and Kalaskar were the ones who shot Dabholkar, the central agency arrested advocate Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave as alleged co-conspirators, as per PTI reports.
During the trial, advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, one of the defence lawyers, had questioned the CBI's flip-flop over the shooters' identity accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120 B (conspiracy ), 302 (murder), relevant sections of the Arms Act, and section 16 (Punishment for terrorist act ) of the UAPA.
While Tawade, Andure and Kalaskar are in jail, Punalekar and Bhave are out on bail.
(With inputs from agencies)
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