Advocate of Hindu outfit arrested in Narendra Dabholkar murder case

Narendra Dabholkar

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested two more accused in rationalist Narendra Dabholkar murder case. The accused have been identified as Sanjeev Punalekar, a legal adviser of Sanatan Sanstha, and Vikram Bhave. Both allegedly have links with arrested accused.

A CBI officer told mid-day, "Punalekar had allegedly asked the accused to destroy the arms which was used in the murder." One of the accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case has also told the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) that he was asked to destroy the guns used in the murders of other rationalists by Punalekar.

Sharad Kalaskar's statement is part of the 9,235- page additional charge-sheet which was filed by the SIT in November last year before a special court in Bengaluru. It details how he and Vaibhav Raut, a key accused in Nallasopara arms haul case, met Punalekar at his office in Fort, Mumbai, in June or July of 2018.

Kalaskar has told SIT that Rishikesh Deodikar alias Murali who is another key member of the outfit and still at large, had instructed them to do so after Amol Kale's arrest in May 2018 Kale was the commander of the group that was targeting 'evildoers'.

"Destroy guns used for all events (code for murder) along with their barrels. Firearms and bombs that are in Murali's custody should also be destroyed," Punalekar reportedly told Kalaskar as per the statement. Sanatan Sanstha in their statement said that, "We condemn these arrests. He is innocent and every Hindu sanghathan is standing behind him."

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