Charges against Punalekar will be framed for destruction of evidence, not murder : court

PUNE: The Pune court of Special Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) judge SR Navander told advocate Sanjeev Punalekar that he will only be tried for the charges of destruction of evidence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), during the hearing of arguments on Friday on the draft charges in the case of murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar

PUNE: The Pune court of Special Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) judge SR Navander told advocate Sanjeev Punalekar that he will only be tried for the charges of destruction of evidence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), during the hearing of arguments on Friday on the draft charges in the case of murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar.

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This could be major relief for Punalekar as his aide, Vikram Vinay Bhave, is facing charges for conducting recce, providing a bike and an escape route to the two shooters of Dr Dabholkar.

“I’m stating it in open court that charges against you will be under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of IPC. Charges against you will not be framed under Section 302 (murder) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC,” said Judge Navander.

During their arrest in May 2019, Punalekar was accused of advising Kalaskar, who is also accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case, of disposing of the weapon used for killing Dr Dabholkar. Bhave, who works in Punalekar’s office, was accused to helping the two shooters. They were arrested based on an alleged confessional statement made by Sharad Kalaskar to the Karnataka police during his interrogation in Lankesh case. His statement incriminating Punalekar and Bhave was recorded under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act.

“There is no evidence suggesting that I had any involvement that falls under Section 201 of IPC. I never spoke with the CFSL expert Nilesh Wagh as claimed by the prosecution. And they have no weapon recovery from the Thane creek even after spending more than 3 years on it,” said Punalekar in his defense.

Bhave is convicted under Explosive Substances Act in a bomb blast case, according to the defense and SPP Prakash Suryavanshi. Punalekar had represented him in that case.

“He is being targeted due to his conviction. He has written to the government about his ordeal post-conviction in a letter and published a book about the unknown story about the Malegaon blast case,” said advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar.