Pune: The killings of Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru last year and Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in 2013 were “linked”, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claimed before a court here on Sunday. Seeking extension of the custody of Sachin Andure, one of the alleged shooters in the Dabholkar murder case, the CBI told the court that one of the accused in the Lankesh murder case had handed over a pistol and three bullets with a magazine to him.
Judicial Magistrate (First Class) H.R. Jadhav extended Andure’s CBI custody till August 30. The CBI told the court that the agency would seek the custody of Sharad Kalaskar, another alleged shooter in the Dabholkar murder case. Kalaskar was among the five persons arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad earlier this month in connection with the seizure of crude bombs and firearms from various parts of the state.
“Kalaskar is currently in the custody of the ATS in the Nalasopara explosives seizure case. The CBI will seek his custody in the Dabholkar case also as he and Andure need to be interrogated together,” Special Public prosecutor Vijaykumar Dhakane said. “During Andure's interrogation, it was revealed that one of the accused in the Lankesh murder case had handed over a 7.65 mm country-made pistol and three bullets to him and he had passed those over to his brother-in-law, Shubham Surale, at Aurangabad (Maharashtra) on August 11,” Dhakane told the court.
Surale had passed on the pistol to one Rohit Rege, according to the prosecutor. The CBI had seized a black-coloured country-made pistol with a magazine and three 7.65 mm “live cartridges” (bullets) from Rege's Aurangabad residence, Dhakane said, adding that the agency was probing if the weapon was used to kill Dabholkar. The CBI was also trying to trace the motorcycle used by Andure and Kalaskar on on August 20, 2013, the day they allegedly killed Dabholkar, he said.
