Accused dismantled, disposed bike in Dabholkar murder case: ATS

ATS was appearing before a special court constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sought to extend custody of Suryavanshi; Liladhar Lodhi alias Vijay alias Lambu; Bharat Kurne alias Tamatar alias Uncle; and Sujeeth Kumar.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has found that Vasudev Suryavanshi – arrested in connection with the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh – had dismantled a bike, and disposed its parts at various locations in Beed. The agency claimed it has recovered the bike.

Activist Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune. (HT FILE)

ATS was appearing before a special court constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sought to extend custody of Suryavanshi; Liladhar Lodhi alias Vijay alias Lambu; Bharat Kurne alias Tamatar alias Uncle; and Sujeeth Kumar.

Suryavanshi, 29, is a mechanic from Sakli village in Jalgaon, 411 km from Mumbai.

Chief public prosecutor Jaysingh Desai said, “We have been able to unearth their role in the blasts carried out at theatres running shows of Padmavat, and in the conspiracy to attack the sunburn festival last year.”

The prosecution said that the call data of the accused’s SIM cards, which proves they were in touch with each other, have been obtained by the agency. ATS further claimed that Kumar had used 48 different mobile phones in the last one year. Defence lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar disputed the prosecution’s claim regarding the number of phones seized in Gauri Lankesh’s murder case.