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New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Friday asked the CBI ( CBI) whether rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, CPI leader Govind Pansare, activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M.M. Was there a “common thread” in the Kalburgi murders? Dabholkar, who raised his voice against superstition, was shot dead on August 20, 2013 by two motorcycle-borne assailants during his morning walk in Pune. Pansare was killed on February 20, 2015, while Lankesh was killed on September 5, 2017. Kalburgi was shot dead on August 30, 2015.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while hearing a plea by Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of Narendra Dabholkar, for refusing to continue monitoring the probe into her father’s murder. The Bombay High Court’s order of April 18 this year has been challenged. Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for Mukta Dabholkar, told the bench that there was a larger conspiracy behind the four murders.
Justice Kaul tells CBI, ‘..please consider’
He said that the available evidence indicated that these cases could be linked and Mukta Dabholkar had raised the issue before the High Court. Justice Dhulia asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CBI, “According to you, there is no common thread in the four murders of the accused facing trial (in the Dabholkar case)?” Ok? That’s what you are saying?’ Justice Kaul said, ‘that’s what we want to know’ and told the CBI, ‘please look into it’.
As Grover began to argue the issues related to the case, the bench told him that the High Court has said that the trial in the Dabholkar murder case is on and some witnesses have already been examined. The bench asked him, “…so that is why we (the High Court) do not want to monitor it further. What is wrong with such remarks?’ Grover said that though the trial is on, two of the accused are absconding and have not been arrested yet.
20 witnesses have been questioned
Describing the status of the Dabholkar murder case, Bhati told the bench that 20 witnesses have been examined so far during the trial. The bench told Bhati that the petitioner has also alleged that the conspiracy has spread on a large scale. The bench noted that the counsel for the petitioner has submitted that he needs two weeks’ time to produce some documents along with translation of relevant portions, which would help the ASG probe the issue of larger conspiracy related to these killings.
What is the suspicion of CBI?
“The ASG is given four weeks to examine the above issue,” the bench said. The bench ordered the matter to be listed after eight weeks. Grover had told the top court on May 18 that the CBI suspected that there could be a common link between the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare and Lankesh.
