Dabholkar murder case: Pune special court rejects bail application of accused Vikram Bhave

In a recent development on the Dabholkar murder case, bail application of accused Vikram Bhave was rejected by the Pune session court on Tuesday. 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was granted an extension of 90 days to register a charge-sheet against Bhave by the court last year. On August 17, 2019, the court had rejected Bhave's bail plea.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Suryavanshi, who had appeared on behalf of the CBI in court, had in June last year asserted that Vikram Bhave had helped Dabholkar's assailants to escape. The investigation bureau had booked Vikram Bhave along with Sanjeev Punalekar, another accused from Mumbai on May 25, 2019, in connection with the case.

Founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), Dabholkar was shot dead by bike-borne assailants while returning home from a morning walk on August 20, 2013.

READ | Dabholkar Murder Case: CBI Claims Accused Sharad Kalaskar Confessed To Crime

Accused Sharad Kalaskar Confessed To Crime

On June 26, last year, the CBI cited a "Forensic Psychological Analysis Statement" of accused Sharad Kalaskar and told the court that he had admitted during the test that he and Sachin Andure killed Maharashtra rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

The prosecution had cited the report while opposing the bail of lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and said that it was already part of the charge sheet against Kalaskar. The argument on the bail plea of Punalekar was heard before Additional Sessions Judge (special judge) R M Pande.

The CBI had claimed that Kalaskar and Andure shot dead Dabholkar while he was returning home from a morning walk on the Onkareshwar Bridge in Pune on August 20, 2013.

SSP Prakash Suryawanshi told the court that the test on Kalaskar was conducted in 2018, during which, Kalaskar told psychological experts that he, along with Andure, had killed Dabholkar, the SPP said.

READ | Dabholkar Case: CBI Again Seeks Sanjeev Punalekar's Custody To Quiz Him

About Narendra Dabholkar 

Narendra Achyut Dabholkar was an Indian medical doctor, social activist, rationalist, and author from Maharashtra. In 1989 he founded and became the president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), which was committed to fighting superstition in India.

Triggered by his murder on 20 August 2013, the pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance were promulgated in the state four days later. The next year, in 2014, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri for social work.

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