Narendra Dabholkar murder: How CBI, Maharashtra ATS cracked the case in 2018

On Friday, a special court for UAPA cases in Pune convicted and sentenced Andure and Kalaskar to life imprisonment and fined them ₹5 lakh.

MUMBAI: It was around midnight on August 15, 2018, around five years after rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants, when the case was cracked by a Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team, quite by a stroke of luck.

Pune, India - August 19, 2019: Eve of the 6th Death anniversary candel march in Dr. Narendra Dabholkar at Vittal Ramji Shinde Bridge in Pune, India, on Monday, August 19, 2019. (Photo by Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

The ATS team was questioning Sharad Kalaskar, an accused arrested in its then ongoing investigation into a haul of arms and ammunition at Nalasopara, when he allegedly blurted out that he and his associate Sachin Andure had shot Dabholkar, stumping his interrogators. Andure was also in the ATS’ detention back then, according to sources familiar with the investigation into Dabholkar’s murder. The Nalasopara cache was allegedly meant for carrying out attacks in different parts of the state to coincide with important festivals.

Kalaskar’s interrogators immediately alerted the additional director general of police, Atul Chandra Kulkarni.

To cross-check their versions, the ATS conducted a preliminary verification through officers who were familiar with the Dabholkar case, while Kulkarni called up the Central Bureau of Investigation’s lead investigator in the Dabholkar probe, who was then at the agency’s Navi Mumbai office. The CBI had taken over the case from the Pune police in June 2014 on the Bombay high court’s order but was yet to identify Dabholkar’s suspected shooters.

The CBI officer then grilled Kalaskar and Andure at length to verify if they were stating the facts, sources said. Once the officer ostensibly confirmed the authenticity of the alleged revelations, he alerted his superiors in the agency’s Delhi headquarters.

The CBI, which is known for its meticulous and process-driven investigations, decided to put Kalaskar and Andure through another test before taking them in custody, sources said. With Kulkarni’s permission, the CBI took Kalaskar and Andure to Pune to do a reconstruction of the murder. Kalaskar and Andure could explain to the CBI how they had allegedly carried out the killing of Dabholkar at Pune’s Omkareshwar Bridge, having arrived on a bike after reaching the city by bus.

After running a few more checks, the CBI decided to take Kalaskar and Andure into its custody. The agency arrested Andure on August 18, 2018, accusing him of being Dabholkar’s shooter. On September 3, 2018, it took Kalaskar’s custody from the ATS with a court’s permission. The CBI had claimed Andure and Kalaskar had allegedly been indoctrinated back in 2012. In the weeks before the murder, they underwent arms training and recced the target, among other things.

Andure told the CBI after his arrest that weeks prior to the murder, he had heard of Dabholkar as a target for the first time for his "anti- Hindu" views in a conspiracy meeting held in Kolhapur. There were seven other participants in that meeting. Andure later, however, allegedly tried to opt out of the Dabholkar assignment, on grounds of lack of confidence and practice, after which he and Kalaskar were both made to undertake a fresh round of practice with pistols in Aurangabad, according to the CBI.

On Friday, a special court for Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act) cases in Pune convicted and sentenced Andure and Kalaskar to life imprisonment, and fined them ₹5 lakh. The court acquitted three others, including the key accused, Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, in the Dabholkar murder case. The court said that the prosecution had proved the charges of murder and conspiracy against Andure and Kalaskar.

The CBI alleged during the trial that Tawade had hatched the criminal conspiracy to commit Dabholkar’s murder due to the latter’s work against superstitions. Dabholkar had been the force behind the Anti Superstition Bill, 2005, which was eventually passed by the Maharashtra state legislature on August 24, 2013, through an ordinance after his death.

A CBI official said the agency will review the court’s order and decide if it wants to appeal the three acquittals.