Two people were today sentenced to life imprisonment by a Pune court for the 2013 murder of activist Narendra Dabholkar. The court acquitted three other suspects in this case.
While reading out the order in a packed courtroom, Additional Sessions Judge PP Jadhav (Special Court) said that the prosecution had proved the charges of murder and conspiracy against Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar and that they should be sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh had received. .
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Andure and Kalaskar had shot Dabholkar.
The court acquitted accused ENT surgeon Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave due to lack of evidence.
Narendra Dabholkar, who led the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013, allegedly by members of a fringe group.
Dabholkar's murder in Pune was followed by the shooting of Govind Pansare in February 2015 and MM Kalburgi in Kolhapur in August the same year. Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru in September 2017.
Pune police initially investigated the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation in 2014 following an order from the Bombay High Court and arrested Dr. in June 2016. Virendrasinh Tawade, an ENT surgeon associated with the right-wing Hindu organization Sanatan Sanstha.
According to the prosecution, Tawade was one of the masterminds of the murder.
Sanatan Sanstha, with which Tawade and some other accused were associated, was opposed to the work of Dabholkar's organisation, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (Committee for the Eradication of Superstition, Maharashtra), it alleged.