Bombay HC tells govt to use modern tech to track killers

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has chided the state and CBI for dragging its feet on the killings of rationalists Narendra Dhabholkar and Govind Pansare and being unable to nab the absconding accused.

The court directed the state to track the accused using modern technology and look beyond its current line of probe to apprehend the accused Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar who have been identified by the CBI as the ones who shot Dabholkar.

The court also directed the petitioners to file an affidavit and make the home secretary and director of CBI directly accountable for the probe. A division bench of Justices S. C. Dharmadhikari and V V Kankanwadi was hearing the petition filed by the kin of Dabholkar complaining of the lethargic attitude of the state and investigating agencies and its failure to nab the perpetrators even after four years have passed since the killing took place and had demanded a court monitored probe in the killings.

After perusing through the investigation reports submitted by the investigating agencies namely the CID and CBI, the bench said that the gunning down of both Dabholkar and Pansare could not be construed as stray instances and they seemed to be well-coordinated and planned attacks that had organisational backing.

In light of these conclusions, the bench directed the agencies to use modern technology to trace the untraceable duo.

“The nexus between the two murders is evident and the men will have some connections in the society that need to be probed. The men could have fled to any of the four or five states with which the state shares borders and hence with the help of CID, the state should go through bank transactions, ATM withdrawals, rail bookings  and other modern technology to track them,” said the bench and asked the agencies to submit fresh reports.     

The court further directed the kin of both Dabholkar and Pansare to file an affidavit with a demand that the state home secretary and the CBI director be made directly accountable for the probe and placed the matter for hearing on September 13.