Bengaluru: Is it the same gang behind the sensational murders of three rationalists - Dr M.M. Kalburgi in Karnataka and Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Mr Govind Pansare in Maharashtra given the fact that there are some “similarities” in all the three ballistic reports? “It is too early and premature to come to any conclusion but there are similarities in the three ballistic reports. This is definitely a step forward in the investigation in the three cases,” said an official source.
The Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) this week has shared the ballistic report of the assassination of Dr Kalburgi with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating Dr Dabholkar's murder and Maharashtra CID, which is probing Pansare's murder.
As per the preliminary investigation Dr Kalburgi was allegedly killed by a 7.65 country made gun, which was also reportedly used in the murders of two rationalists in Maharashtra.
The Bombay High Court had last week directed CBI and Maharashtra CID to seek the ballistic report from Karnataka CID to expedite investigation in the murders of Dr Dabholkar and Pansare after the CBI lawyer Anil Singh and public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde (for CID, Maharashtra) told the court that despite the agencies' efforts to get the ballistic report from Karnataka CID they had not heard from them, which was delaying their investigation.
Besides similarity in the use of firearm, the timings of the three murders and the modus operandi are also very similar. Dr Kalburgi was killed point blank at around 8.30 am on August 30 last year in his house in Dharwad by an unidentified youth, who was accompanied by another young man, who was waiting for him outside on the motorcycle.
Dr Dabholkar was murdered on August 20, 2013 in Pune by two unidentified motorcycle-borne gunmen when he was out on a morning walk and Pansare was shot at on February 16 last year by two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle, when he was returning from his morning walk. Four days later, on February 20, he had succumbed to his injuries.
The Maharashtra police had arrested Right Wing activist Sameer Gaikwad in Sangli in September last year in connection with Mr. Pansare's murder but there has been “no breakthrough in any of the assassination cases so far,” added the officer.
