Rationalists’ murders:SIT takes three into custody for Govind Pansare’s murder

The three arrested — Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Mishkin — were already lodged in jails in Mumbai and Pune for the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Maharashtra State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested three people in connection with the murder of veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare, on Friday. Pansare was shot in Kolhapur on February 16, 2015, and succumbed to his injuries four days later.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Maharashtra State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested three people in connection with the murder of veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare

The three arrested — Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Mishkin — were already lodged in jails in Mumbai and Pune for the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh.

They were arrested from these jails by the SIT of the state CID, officials said. With this, the number of arrests in the Pansare case has gone up to 12.

Security agencies suspect all three murders are linked and carried out by the same set of people.

Earlier, Andure was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the help of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on August 18, 2018, for the 2013 murder of Dabholkar.

His name had cropped up in the Nalasopara arms haul case, when one of the arrested, Sharad Kalaskar, confessed that he along with Andure had killed Dabholkar.

Andure had allegedly fired two rounds at Dabholkar. Andure was lodged in Pune’s Yerwada jail.

Baddi and Mishkin were arrested by the Karnataka police SIT in connection with the 2017 murder of Lankesh, in July 2018.

Later, Maharashtra ATS, which was questioning Kalaskar, also found that Baddi and Mishkin were in contact with Kalaskar and had planned to carry out a bomb blast at a music festival in Pune. Baddi and Mishkin were under judicial custody in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail. The ATS had then taken their custody from the Karnataka police in September 2018.

Now, the three will be in SIT custody till September 16.

Dabholkar, a noted rationalist, was shot dead on August 20, 2013 in Pune, while he was on a morning walk.

Lankesh, an activist-journalist, was shot dead on the night of September 5, 2017, from close range, in front of her house in Bengaluru.