Enmity, differences over 2005 bill led to murder

The alleged motive behind the August 2013 murder of Pune’s rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was the longstanding enmity and hatred that existed between him, his anti-superstition NGO — Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANIS) and right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha, according to the CBI’s recent chargesheet in the case. The conflict was especially due to Dabholkar’s support to the anti-superstition ‘Andhshraddha Nirmulan Bill-2005’that was then being considered by the state government, the chargesheet said.

The chargesheet that was submitted in a Pune special court recently had named Sanatan Sanstha’s alleged follower Dr Virendra Tawade for his suspected role in the case. According to the chargesheet, a senior functionary of a Sanatan Sanstha subsidiary group had allegedly tasked Tawade in July 2007, via an e-mail that was seized by the CBI on June 1 this year, to focus on opposing the 2005 bill and to drop all his then other assignments. Tawade has so far denied all the allegations levelled against him by the CBI in the case.

The alleged email containing the directive had reached Tawade on July 8, 2007. According to the chargesheet, Tawade had allegedly withdrawn from overt activities in Kolhapur after receiving the email to focus on the bill and Dabholkar. Tawade allegedly resurfaced in Kolhapur in April 2013, seeking ‘chocolates’ — code word for cartridges — and a fire-arm making unit, according to the chargesheet.

When contacted by The Asian Age, Abhay Vartak, the spokesperson of the right-wing group, Sanatan Sanstha, denied all the allegations levelled against it by the CBI. “I do not have a copy of the CBI’s chargesheet in the Narendra Dabholkar case, and so I can’t comment. But as far as Sanatan Sanstha is concerned, it had no role at all in the Dabholkar case. Sanatan Sanstha denies any allegation that the CBI may have levelled against it in the case,” Mr Vartak said. “Sanatan Sanstha was openly critical of some of Dabholkar’s views and the Andhshraddha Nirmulan Bill, but that matter is on public record,” he said.

The 2005 bill was passed on August 24, 2013 through an ordinance after Dabholkar's death, according to the chargesheet.

According to the chargesheet, the group had subsequently given representations to state government authorities on the bill. Tawade allegedly planned to disrupt a 2002 meeting in Kohlapur, in which Dabholkar was a guest speaker.