In a breakthrough in the 2010 killing of Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty, the CBI on Wednesday arrested a city crime branch police inspector for his alleged role in the murder conspiracy and subsequent shielding of actual culprits while probing the case.
“CBI has today arrested BR Andhalkar for his role in the conspiracy behind the murder of Satish Shetty with others, though his motive is yet to be established,” said an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “The inspector is also accused of fabricating and manipulating evidence — at the time he was part of the local police team probing the murder — to shield the real culprits,” he added.
It is the first arrest in the case, in which the CBI is conducting a re-investigation after once filing a closure report.
HT had first reported in its edition dated February 28, 2015 about the police officer being in the CBI’s case scanner for allegedly “wrongfully arresting a suspect, whose absence from the crime scene has been established by eyewitnesses’ accounts”. The report had also stated that the officer had attempted to plant fake evidence on the suspect.
The CBI is probing whether the crime could be linked to Shetty’s police complaint in 2009 against certain unauthorised sale of land.
{{/usCountry}}The CBI is probing whether the crime could be linked to Shetty’s police complaint in 2009 against certain unauthorised sale of land.
{{/usCountry}}“A construction firm has been under the agency’s scanner. The probe is ongoing and more arrests are likely soon,” said an agency source.
Also under the scanner is a set of other police officers who allegedly kept telephonic contact with a few case suspects as evident from an analysis of their mobile phones’ call data records (CDRs), said the source.