What is the Narendra Dabholkar murder case in which the court has found 2 men guilty?

Almost 11 years after the murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, a prominent anti-superstition activist, a special court for UAPA cases in Pune, Maharashtra, found two men guilty for the crime, while acquitting three others. Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskarand were sentenced to life imprisonment, while three others — Virendrasinh Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar, and Vikram Bhave — were acquitted of the charges.

Here’s everything you need to know about the case.

What do we know about the high-profile murder?

On 20 August 2013, Dr Narendra Dabholkar was fatally shot while on his morning walk near the VR Shinde bridge in Pune. Two assailants on a motorbike shot him three times at close range. Two bullets hit Dabholkar in the head and chest, and he died on the spot. The attackers then fled the scene, leaving behind no immediate clue.

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The assailants fled the scene on the motorbike, which they later handed over to a third person in an area with no CCTV coverage. They then took a bus to Aurangabad. According to a Times of India report, two civic sweepers who were present at the bridge witnessed the two men get on the motorbike after the shooting and drive away.

Some saw the killing as part of a series of murders targeting popular rationalists who were perceived to be anti-Hindu. Three other people were targeted: CPI member Govind Pansare and academic MM Kalburgi in 2015, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017.

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Who is Narendra Dabholkar?

In the late 1980s, after leaving his decade-long medical practice, Dabholkar founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), an organisation dedicated to eradicating superstition in Maharashtra. Through MANS, he campaigned for social reform and laws against black magic and superstitious practices across religions, saying that these practices exploit the poor and uneducated. Dabholkar, known as a genial doctor, social activist, rationalist, writer, and editor, became the face of the anti-superstition movement in Maharashtra.

In his attempt to establish an anti-superstition legislative framework, he faced many challenges, including opposition from various organisations and political parties. According to Times of India, he had returned from Mumbai the night before his assassination, where he had advocated for legislation to outlaw human sacrifice and black magic, a cause he had championed for over 15 years.

As a result of his work, he was labelled ‘anti-Hindu’ and faced multiple threats on his life. In December 2013, just four months after his tragic murder, the Maharashtra government finally passed the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil, and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, a law that Dabholkar had tirelessly campaigned for.

In addition to his work with MANS, Dabholkar served as the editor of the liberal-leaning Marathi weekly Sadhana. He also actively participated in movements promoting equality among different societal groups and fostering scientific temper, as per Indian Express.

How the investigation unfolded?

Dabholkar’s death was investigated by multiple agencies.

Initially, five members of the Hindu organisation Sanatan Sanstha, based in Goa, were charged with planning the killing and destroying evidence, as per a report. To find the culprits, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed, consisting of Pune police, Maharashtra police, and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

In June 2014, five months after the murder, Pune police arrested arms dealer Manish Nagori and his aide Vikas Khandelwal. The police claimed to have found a gun used in the murder. When brought before the court, Nagori claimed that the then-ATS chief Rakesh Maria offered them Rs 25 lakh to confess to the murder.

According to an Indian Express report, he later claimed that their allegations against Maria were an ’emotional outburst’. The police case became more difficult when Pansare was killed in 2015, allegedly with a firearm similar to the one used in the Dabholkar case. Nagori and Khandelwal were granted bail after the police failed to submit a chargesheet within the deadline.

In the same month, the CBI took over the Dabholkar murder investigation following a Bombay High Court order. On 10 June 2016, the CBI arrested an ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, who is also affiliated with the radical organisation Sanatan Sanstha, in the Dabholkar murder case based on a witness statement provided by a Hindutva activist and metallurgy craftsman Sanjay Sadvilkar.

The CBI claimed that Tawade is one of the conspiracy’s masterminds.

Before his arrest in the Dabholkar case, Tawade was arrested by Maharashtra Police for the murder of Pansare, who was shot near his Kolhapur residence in February 2015.

The CBI claimed that Dabholkar’s murder was motivated by a “long standing enmity/hatred” between him and Sanatan Sanstha, as per an Indian Express report.

The CBI’s September 2016 chargesheet against Tawade named absconding Sanatan Sanstha members Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the two assailants who shot Dabholkar. However, in August 2018, the CBI arrested Hindutva activists Sachin Prakashrao Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, contradicting its earlier claim and informing the court that these two were the shooters who opened fire on Dabholkar. Sanjeev Punalekar, a lawyer with Sanatan Sanstha in Mumbai, and his aide Vikram Bhave were also arrested by the CBI in May 2019. The CBI also arrested three others, Amol Kale, Amit Digwekar, and Rajesh Bangera, who, along with Kalasakar, are accused of the 2017 murder of Bangalore journalist Gauri Lankesh, reports Indian Express.

According to the chargesheets, as reported by Times of India, Dabholkar and three others were targeted because they were perceived as impeding the establishment of a theocratic state, or Hindu Rashtra. The victims’ views on superstition, rationalism, and secularism, which were frequently expressed in articles and speeches, were not well received by Sanatan Sansthan members.

Chargesheets filed by three different agencies - the CBI, a Karnataka SIT, and a Maharashtra SIT - all agree that the murders of the four people were connected.

With inputs from agencies