Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday told the Central Bureau of Inv-estigation (CBI) that it is the country’s premier investigating agency and the whole world was interested in knowing the outcome of important cases that it is investigating.
Though the court was hearing a case related to the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare, it made reference to recent developments in West Bengal in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam and said, “Because of social media, the world is watching what you are doing in important cases, including the incident in West Bengal.”
Expressing dissatisfaction over the developments in the Pansare murder case, the court said that “much more” was expected from the CBI.
During the hearing, counsels of both agencies said that they would file a chargesheet next week and the search for the absconding accused would not be halted. But the division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmad-hikari and Justice M.S. Karnik said that both the probe agencies needed to make a sincere effort towards tracing the absconding accused. The court also said the CBI would have to investigate the case comprehensively. If the accused are still untraceable it means somebody is helping them, the court said.
Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune while he was on his morning walk, while Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur and he succumbed to his injuries on February 20. The high court has been hearing pleas filed by the family members of the deceased seeking a court-monitored probe in both cases.
On last hearing, the court pulled up both the agencies for not filing a chargesheet and arresting the accused. The court had also lambasted agencies for depending on the probe of the Karnataka police in the murder case of journalist Gauri Lankesh.
