Narendra Dabholkar murder case: Mumbai court remands suspect Sharad Kalaskar in CBI custody

Mumbai: A Mumbai sessions court on Monday remanded Sharad Kalaskar, suspect in rationalist Narendra Dabholkar murder case in 2013, into the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody for further investigation. [caption id=“attachment_5091831” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. PTI[/caption] The new development comes after the court had denied CBI’s application seeking Kalaskar’s custody on 29 August. According to reports, CBI wanted to confront him along with another accused Sachin Andure. Accused Andure was nabbed by the police from Aurangabad after a tip-off from the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). Kalaskar was also remanded into ATS custody until Monday. Kalaskar was arrested in August by the Maharashtra ATS in connection with the seizure of arms and ammunition from different parts of the state. Kalaskar and three other accused in the arms haul case - Vaibhav Raut, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar and Shrikant Pangarkar were produced before Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Padalkar after their police remand ended. On Saturday, two accused, namely Rajesh Bangera and Amit Degwekar were sent to the CBI custody by a Pune sessions court. They were sent to the custody for 10 days. Dabholkar, the founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was shot dead on 20 August, 2013 by bike-borne assailants, while he was returning home from a morning walk. The ATS had earlier claimed the arms haul accused were suspected right-wing activists who were planning to trigger blasts at various places in Maharashtra. Kalaskar’s alleged role in Dabholkar’s killing came to light during his interrogation by the ATS in the arms seizure case. The ATS passed on the relevant information to the CBI, which is probing Dabholkar’s killing since 2014.