Dabholkar murder case: Special court has accepted CBI's final report, says SPP

A special court in Pune has accepted the "final report" filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case trial.

The CBI, through special public prosecutor Prakash Suryavanshi, had last week filed a final report in the court of Special Judge P P Jadhav stating it had concluded the evidence in the case.

"The court accepted the CBI's final report. The next hearing in the case is on October 19, when statements of all five accused - Virendra Sinh Tawde, Sachin Andure, Sharad Kalaskar, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave- will be recorded under Section 313 of Code of Criminal Procedure," Suryavanshi said.

Sources close to the trial said the CBI, in its final report, stated it tried to find absconding accused Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar in vain.

The report has also stated the examination of both these accused is necessary to reveal the larger conspiracy in the murder of the rationalist, sources said.

In the final report, CBI has mentioned they have not filed a chargesheet against Amol Kale, Rajesh Bangera and Amit Degvekar due to lack of prosecutable evidence.

The report also stated that accused Manish Nagori and Vikas Khandelwal, the arms dealers who were arrested by Pune police, should be discharged as they are not connected to the case.

Dabholkar was shot dead while on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013.