Dabholkar, Pansare murders: High court raps CBI, SIT for shoddy probe

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the state-appointed special investigation team (SIT) investigating

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the state-appointed special investigation team (SIT) investigating the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and CPI leader Govind Pansare over the “shoddy probe”, “unsatisfactory, insipid progress” and their failure to “protect witnesses and prevent crucial probe-related information from getting leaked”.

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A division bench comprising justices SC Dharmadhikari and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi trashed the CBI’s ‘progress report’ in the Dabholkar case, stating it was a mere collection of “news reports” that could at best be used as a “script for films”.

The court has granted the agencies six weeks to come up with something concrete. It has asked the CBI to get a ballistic report from the forensic laboratory in Scotland Yard on the bullets and cartridges recovered from the bodies of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kannada author MM Kalburgi.

The bench said the CBI’s conduct in guarding information related to the probe was “juvenile”.

It warned the agency it will not hesitate to direct disciplinary action against erring officers if the same continued.

“There is nothing in the report that we do not already know. All of this information is already in the public domain through newspaper and TV reports. You go around divulging information as if it is some great achievement. The witnesses in the case have been exposed and because you have made everything public, those you call suspects or absconders already know your plan of action,” the bench said.”

The court said both agencies had clearly been “dragging their feet” and it was not “completely satisfied” with the progress that the agencies had made so far. The investigating officers “ought to be sensitive and careful and must go ahead with the investigations bearing in mind that both murders were a crime against society”, the HC said.

“Two eminent individuals have lost their lives on account of their work. Hence there is a larger issue of protecting freedom of speech and expression here,” the bench said. “We must see some seriousness on your part. This is a sensitive matter so do not ruin everything by divulging crucial details. We are not impressed by all this, for it affects fair probe and fair trial,” the court said.