Almost 17 months after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recovered a pistol from Kharegaon creek in the Arabian Sea with the help of Norwegian deep-sea divers, ballistics experts have said it is not the weapon used in the murder of rationalist and anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar in August 2013, as was originally hypothesised, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The development is a major setback for CBI, which, along with anti-terror units from Maharashtra and Karnataka, spent at least ₹7.5 crore to recover the weapon from the seabed; the recovery was also seen as a major breakthrough in the case.
HT reported on March 5 last year that to find the weapon, the agency hired a Dubai-based firm, Envitech Marine Consultants, which, in turn, brought in deep-sea explorers and machinery from Norway and scoured the creek at Thane for months.
One of the shooters, Sharad Kalaskar, also an accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in 2017, dismantled four country-made pistols by taking out their barrels and sliders and threw them from a bridge in Kharegaon creek in Thane on his way from Pune to Nallasopara on July 23, 2018, according to a previous claim by CBI. The agency suspected the pistol fished out by the Norwegian divers was one of the four thrown by Kalaskar.
The people cited above said ballistics experts at Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), after a thorough examination, have said the pistol recovered from the seabed doesn’t match with the markings on the fired bullets (of 7.65mm) and three spent cartridges, recovered from crime scene at Omkareshwar bridge in Shaniwar Peth, Pune. Dabholkar was on a walk on August 20, 2013 when Sachin Andure and Kalaskar shot him at this spot, according to the agency.
{{/usCountry}}The people cited above said ballistics experts at Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), after a thorough examination, have said the pistol recovered from the seabed doesn’t match with the markings on the fired bullets (of 7.65mm) and three spent cartridges, recovered from crime scene at Omkareshwar bridge in Shaniwar Peth, Pune. Dabholkar was on a walk on August 20, 2013 when Sachin Andure and Kalaskar shot him at this spot, according to the agency.
{{/usCountry}}A senior official familiar with the expert opinion said: “It’s a known fact that no two firearms, even of same make and model, will produce the same markings on a bullet or a cartridge. But bullets fired from same weapon and its cartridges can be easily matched and that’s what the forensic experts were trying by cleaning and firing the pistol recovered by us. Unfortunately, it didn’t match.”
“We will continue looking for the murder weapon,” he added.
CBI didn’t comment on the development officially.
Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, one of the defence lawyers, said: “It could not have matched. What was alleged to be thrown in the creek were parts of a pistol. So, there was no way that a complete pistol will come out of it.”
Dabholkar’s murder, CBI believes, is linked to the killing of Lankesh, the February 16, 2015 killing of activist Govind Pansare in Kolhapur, and the August 2015 murder of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi. CBI, which is probing the Dabholkar murder since 2014, has already filed three chargesheets in the case, naming seven people, including the alleged mastermind Virendra Tawade (an ENT surgeon), advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, Vikram Bhave, Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure.
CBI has claimed that Kalaskar visited Punalekar in June 2018 and revealed his role in the killing of Dabholkar. In response, according to the agency, Punalekar told Kalaskar to destroy the firearms used in the killings.
Punalekar is out on bail since 2019 while Vikram Bhave was granted bail by the Bombay high court in May. CBI and Maharashtra police recently informed the HC that trial in both Dabholkar and Pansare murders can begin, but their probe will continue.