Dr. Virendrasinh Tawade, Prime Accused in Narendra Dabholkar Murder, Approaches Bombay High Court For Bail

The CBI arrested right-wing doctor Tawade on June 10, 2016.

On Tuesday, a division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar granted the Central Bureau of Investigation two weeks to file their reply.

Dabholkar was shot dead by two bike-borne men on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013.

Tawade and three others were formally charged for murder, conspiracy and terror-related offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act last week by a special court in Pune. The fifth accused was charged with the destruction of evidence.

The doctor has challenged the Special Pune court's order rejecting his bail application on September 15, 2020. He claims that the order was passed mechanically without application of mind.

According to the CBI, the accused conspired to kill Dabholkar to spread fear in the minds of followers of his anti-superstition organisation Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti.

The CBI took over investigations into the case in 2014 following Bombay High Court's Orders. In its charge sheet, CBI relied heavily on statements of five eyewitnesses, a businessman from Kolhapur who allegedly provided the country-made pistol to Tawade used in the murder, and statements of Dabholkar's family members point fingers at Sanatan Sanstha.

Tawade's bail application states that there are different theories for Dabholkar's murder. The first one originated from the forensic report from Kalina, another in the 2016 charge-sheet cited Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as shooters. The third and final charge sheet by the CBI arraigned Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar as the shooters. Akolkar and Pawar are witnesses.

"The applicant (Tawade) is the mastermind in both the theories without any concrete evidence pointing such involvement in both. In such a case, there cannot be reasonable grounds which could point out to accusation against the appellant being prima facie true."

Tawade claims that the Special judge wrongly said he had been convicted for terror acts in the past, as he has never been convicted for such an offence. The confessional statement of an accused in journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder in Karnataka could not be used against him.

The four alleged right-wing extremists are charged with murder(302), criminal conspiracy(120B) under section 16 (committing terror acts) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and under the Arms Act. Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar was charged with 201 of the IPC.

The other accused are Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar and Vikram Bhave.

Case Title: Virendrasinh Tawade vs State of Maharashtra