Maharashtra Police seek NIA aid on three accused

Mumbai: The Maharashtra police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is conducting probe in the February 2015 murder of CPI leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur, has sought assistance from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for details against three accused including Dr Virendra Tawade for further probe in the case. 

The SIT wrote to the NIA seeking call detail records from the NIA on Tawade and two absconding co-accused, Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar. SIT’s chargesheets claimed that a few witnesses have identified Akolkar and Pawar for their alleged role in the case. The chargesheet has accused Tawade of conducting reconnaissance on Pansare with the help of Akolkar and Pansare. Akolkar and Pansare are absconding after their alleged associates came under the scanner of the probe into the Goa bomb blast case of 2009. NIA, which probed the Goa case, had submitted its chargesheet against six persons who were however acquitted by a local special court in December 2014 after which the agency went in appeal in the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court.

The SIT has also sought from the NIA, a copy of its Goa blast case chargesheet and copies of its witnesses’ statements, for its further probe in the Pansare case. The Asian Age has a copy of SIT’s Pansare case chargesheet, which mentions its request made to the NIA for help.