State asked to provide full assistance in weapon search

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed the state government to provide full assistance to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in searching from the Bhayandar creek, the weapon used to kill Dr Narendra Dabholkar.

The CBI Thursday informed the court that it was facing problems while searching for the murder weapon. It also informed the court that the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) was not giving permission for searching the weapon from the creek.

The court also pulled up the CBI for not taking enough steps in the investigation. The court was hearing a petition filed by the kin of Dr Dabholkar and activist Govind Pansare, seeking fair investigation.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh informed the court that the state government had told the CBI that if the latter started conducting searches in the creek, CRZ rules would be violated and so also, HC orders pertaining to CRZ.

The bench expressed its displeasure and said that if this was the situation, how would the investigation agency carry out its work.

If in future, an airplane collapsed in the sea or a bus fell into the creek, would rescuers wait for rules or would they save people instead, the court asked.

It then directed the MCZMA to give full assistance to the CBI.

The state SIT confessed that despite identifying the murderers, they had failed to nab the accused. The court scheduled further hearing on August 9.

A division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice Gautam Patel was hearing a petition filed by the kin of Dr Dabholkar and Pansare to trace the accused and monitor the probe being held by the CBI and state SIT.

At last hearing the probe agencies in Maharashtra told the Bombay high court that they had, to some extent, established a commonality between the killings of rationalist Dr Dabholkar and activist Govind Pansare.