Narendra Dabholkar death anniv: Family still waits for closure on case

PUNE August 20, 2021, marks the eighth anniversary of the murder of Narendra Dabholkar

PUNE August 20, 2021, marks the eighth anniversary of the murder of Narendra Dabholkar. His son Hamid Dabholkar, and members of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, Milind Deshmukh, Nandini Jadhav and Shripal Lalwani, held a press conference on Friday, raising questions about the investigation into Dabholkar’s murder.

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Hamid Dabholkar said, “The CBI should find out who is behind the murder of Narendra Dabholkar, otherwise the threat to expression of rational thinkers, activists and journalists in the country would not end.”

Hamid Dabholkar added that the CBI has arrested Dr Virendra Tawde in 2016, Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure in August 2018 and Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave in May 2019, as suspects in the case. “The CBI has not filed a chargesheet against Amol Kale. No chargesheet has been filed against Amit Digvekar and Rajesh Bangera. The investigation into the murder has come to a halt with the names of Dr Virendra Tawde and Amol Kale,” Hamid Dabholkar said.

The Dabholkar and Pansare families have filed a petition with the Mumbai High Court asking the court to oversee the probe into the murder of Dabholkar.

On August 20, activists of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti will come together to protest against the murder of Dabholkar.

On August 20 the Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Lecture will be held in Pune. This year, P Sainath, a senior journalist and former editor of The Hindu, will be the keynote speaker, speaking on challenges facing Indian democracy. This lecture will be held online.

Narendra Dabholkar Vichar Jagar Saptah

August 14-20; 6pm

• Saturday, August 14: Public interview with Nandini Jadhav; chief guest: Mukta Barve

• Sunday, August 15: Public interview with Anshul Chhatrapati. Anshul’s father was murdered journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati. Ram Rahim was convicted in this murder case.

• Monday, August 16: Public lecture by Sanjay Awate

• Tuesday, August 17: Release of books on children’s literature; chief guest: Sushil Shukla Wednesday, August 18: National seminar chaired by Dr Vivek Monteiro,

Thursday, August 19 (10 am to 4 pm): Thought Conference

Friday, August 20: Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Lecture: P Sainath, a senior journalist and former editor of The Hindu

* All programmes online