Narendra Dabholkar murder case: Two accused get life imprisonment

Two people were sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday (May 10) by a Pune court for the 2013 murder of Indian activist Narendra Dabholkar.

The court convicted the two assailants Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar and sent them to life in prison even as it acquitted three other accused in the case.

ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave were acquitted for the lack of evidence.

The Special UAPA Court in Pune announced its verdict After more than 10 years the murder of Narendra Dabholkar, .

Rationalist Narendra Dabholkar murder case

Dabholkar, a rationalist and founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) or committee for eradication of superstition, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants on the VR Shinde bridge in Pune on 20 August 2013. He was 67.

Dabholkar's murder in the west Indian city was followed by the shootings of Govind Pansare in February 2015 and MM Kalburgi in Kolhapur in August of the same year.

Later, in September 2017, writer Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru.

Pune police initially probed the case but it was later handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from June 2014, following a Bombay High Court order.

The CBI arrested Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, an ENT surgeon linked to the Hindu right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha, in June 2016.

According to the prosecution, Tawade was one of the masterminds of the murder.

Sanatan Sanstha, to which Tawade and some of the other accused were linked, was opposed to the work carried out by Dabholkar's organisation, it claimed.

(With inputs from agencies)