Pansare case: Tawde says CM caused no delay

Mumbai: A day after the Bombay high court rapped chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the slow pace of the probe into the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, state education minister Vinod Tawde defended the chief minister, saying there was no delay on his part. The minister said that there was not a single decision that was pending before Mr Fadnavis.

“The law clearly says that a chief minister or a minister should not interfere in any investigation,” Mr Tawde said, indicating that if there was a delay in the probe, the chief minister cannot be blamed for it.

Meanwhile, the Congress state president Ashok Chavan has asked whether the chief minister belongs to a particular political party. Mr Chavan has also raised the question over honesty of the chief minister.

The court on Thursday expressed it’s displeasure over the pace of probe into the killing of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, asking whether the chief minister did not have time to take stock of the cases.

The court had expressed its displeasure on the fact that almost every investigation required the high court’s monitoring.

The Congress state president Ashok Chavan said that it has happened for the first time in the history of the state that the court had to pass such a remark for the chief minister.

“This shameful for the state and the chief minister should resign from his post immediately,” Mr Chavan said.

Talking about the high court’s observations, Mr Tawde claimed that there was no delay on the part of Mr Fadnavis as far as taking decisions on the investigation into the Pansare murder case was concerned.

Mr Tawde added, “Once we get the order, we will present our stand before the high court.”