Professional hitmen were used to kill Dabholkar?

Six days after the eminent rationalist and anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune, no arrests have been made by the Pune police in connection with the crime. “The police are as still groping in the dark and searching for definite leads,” a source said.

However, top investigators are more or less convinced that the murder was a well-planned, pre-meditated crime and the killers seem to have taken all the necessary precautions to cover their tracks.

It is also likely that Dabholkar’s murder was a contract killing and it is therefore necessary to “identify the conspirators behind his killing,” chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said at a press conference here on Sunday.

Chavan said that 19 police teams have been formed to investigate the crime and the Mumbai Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has also been roped in for the investigations.

“These teams have been sent to different parts of the state to question individuals and organisations who were known to have animosity with Dr. Dabholkar,” Chavan said.

As the founder-president of the Maharashtra Anndhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (Society for Eradication of Superstition), Dabholkar, over the last four decades, was in the forefront of fighting superstitious practices and deception of lay people in the name of black magic and religion. He had been campaigning for the last 18 years for a law to combat the exploitation of people through black magic, sorcery and superstitious practices and beliefs.

As a part of their investigations, the police have secured footage from 80 CCTV cameras across the city. One lead that is being pursued is with regards a photograph of Dabholkar on the internet that was marked with a red cross on July 29, 21 days before he was shot dead. Dalit writer and scholar Anand Teltumde has referred to a similar photograph in his article in Countercurrents.org about a right wing Hindu organization’s “virulent opposition” to Dabholkar. Teltumde said that this organization carried a tirade against him in its mouthpiece published in many languages. “This paper had not only written venomously against Dabholkar but also prominently published Dabholkar’s photo crossing it with bold red, signifying his imminent elimination, " Teltumde wrote.

Assistant commissioner of police (Crime) Rajendra Bhamre told journalists that suspected elements in various Jat Panchayats and Hindutva organizations were being questioned in connection with the probe. “There has been some progress and it won’t be prudent to reveal all details,” he said.

About 1,400 persons have been questioned so far by the police. Gang leaders in various jails of Maharashtra and suspects arrested under the Arms Act have also been questioned.

Dabholkar was shot dead by two assailants on August 20 while on his morning walk on a bridge near Omkareshwar temple. The suspects had arrived on a motorcycle and fired four shots at Dabholkar, two of which hit him in the neck and the head. The assailants who had parked their motorcycle close to the Shainwar Peth police chowky then fled the spot.

Police are yet to get hold of the motorcycle used by the killers as they do not have the complete registration number to identify the vehicle.