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Pune: On Friday, A special court in Pune convicted two accused, Sachin Andure and Sarad Kalaskar, in the murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and sentenced them to life imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 5 lakh was imposed on them. The court also acquitted three others, Virendra Tawde, lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave, due to lack of evidence.
Tawde was accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of being the main conspirator in the case. The accused were opposed to Dabholkar’s crusade against superstition, the prosecution had stated in its final arguments. The trial in the 2013 murder case began in 2021, while Pune sessions judge PP Jadhav reserved the verdict in the case last month.
Dabholkar, founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants while he was on a morning walk in Pune on August 20, 2013. He had been running the samiti for several years when he published various books and conducted workshops to eradicate superstition. After his murder in 2013, amid much public outrage, the Bombay High Court had transferred the case from the Pune police to the CBI on petitions filed by Dabholkar’s daughter and son. The court was still hearing petitions related to the case.
Five accused in the case — Virendrasinh Tawde, Sachin Andure, Sharad Kalaskar, Vikram Bhave and advocate Sanjeev Punalekar — were subsequently arrested. The five were charged under Section 302 read with Section 120B or 34 for murder and criminal conspiracy and Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (terrorist act) and provisions of the Arms Act
