Pune: A court on Tuesday granted the special investigation team probing the murder of CPI leader Govind Pansare to take the custody of Virendra Tawde, arrested in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case by CBI.
As Tawde's CBI custody expired, judicial magistrate V B Gulve Patil sent him to 14 days' judicial remand, and also permitted the state-appointed SIT to take his custody.
"We have got the permission to take custody. We will decide when to take his custody now," said Harshad Nimbalkar, the special prosecutor in Pansare case.
Tawde, an ENT doctor and a member of the conservative Hindu group Sanatan Sanstha, was likely to be arrested in the Pansare case, he said. "After taking his custody, SIT will first interrogate him and then decision will be taken on his arrest (in that case)," said advocate Nimbalkar.
CBI produced Tawde in the court as his five-day custody got over. It sought another four days' custody saying he was not cooperating and was trying to be "deceptive". As Tawde's wife was returning from London today, CBI wanted to confront Tawde with her, its lawyer B P Raju said.
Raju also informed that CBI had found out 119 bank accounts of Sanatan Sanstha. Rudra Patil and Vinay Pawar, two of its members who are absconding, were signatory of some of these accounts, it said.
While Dabholkar, an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead in Pune in August 2013, Pansare, known for his rationalist views, was murdered in Kolhapur in February 2015.
A book on spirituality written by Sanatan's founder Jayant Athavale criticises Dabholkar, advocate Raju said, citing some passages. He also cited a passage from 'Kshatra Dharma Sadhana', another of Athavale's book, which says a 'sadhak' (Sanatan's disciple) can eliminate an enemy by only chanting a few lines from the book.
Defence lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar opposed CBI's plea for further custody, saying Tawde had already spent 11 days in the agency's custody. Tawde was arrested on June 10 from his Panvel residence.
According to CBI, he was one of the conspirators and "brain" behind both Dabholkar and Pansare murders. It was the first arrest in the case which the Maharashtra police failed to crack before it was transferred to CBI. The SIT has arrested Sameer Gaikwad, a former Sanatan follower, in the Pansare murder case.
Reacting to today's development, Megha Pansare, the late CPI leader's daughter-in-law who had earlier requested the Maharashtra chief minister that the probe in this case too should be transferred to the CBI, said, "We are still firm on our request to hand over the case to CBI. So far investigation (by SIT) is not satisfactory," she said.
The Pansare family today met Additional Superintendent of Police Suhel Sharma who has taken over as in-charge in the case, she said. Though Sharma assured them of speedy investigation, the family still wanted a CBI probe, Megha said. The family was expecting a reply from the CM soon, she added.
