Narendra Dabholkar murder case: Special CBI court in Pune denies bail to accused Vikram Bhave

Pune: A special CBI court in Pune  on Saturday rejected the bail application of Vikram Bhave, an accused in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case. Additional Sessions Judge RM Pande denied bail to Bhave saying that prima facie (on the face of it) there was evidence against him, said special public prosecutor Prakash Suryavanshi. In May, Sanjeev Punalekar, a lawyer, and Bhave, his assistant, were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the case. Punalekar is accused of giving advice to Sharad Kalaskar, one of the alleged assailants who shot Dabholkar, to destroy the firearms used in the killings of Dabholkar as well as journalist Gauri Lankesh. He was granted bail last month. Bhave is accused of helping the shooters conduct a recce of the area before Dabholkar, a noted anti-superstition activist, was shot dead in Pune during his morning walk on 20 August, 2013. According to probe agencies, some of the conspirators behind the killings of Dabholkar, communist leader Govind Pansare, Kannada writer M M Kalburgi and Lankesh were the same.