Activist killing: Brother accuses infra firm official

The brother of Pune-based social activist Satish Shetty, who was murdered in January, has blamed top executives of an infrastructure company for the murder, reports Urvi Mahajani.

The brother of Pune-based social activist Satish Shetty, who was murdered in January, has blamed top executives of an infrastructure company for the murder.

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Sandeep Shetty’s affidavit in the Bombay High Court alleged that Satish had received threats at the behest of Virendra Mhaiskar, chairman and managing director of IRB Infrastru-cture Developers Limited.

Sandeep’s petition claimed that Satish had exposed a scam involving the firm and a person identified as Nitin Sable regarding the purchase of 1,800 acres of land in Taje and Pimploli villages in Pune district.

He told the court a police station at Lonavla had lodged a case of cheating against Mhaiskar and others. But the police did not take any action, the affidavit alleged. “Satish had received threats at the instance of Mhaiskar and Sable to withdraw his compliant,” the affidavit alleges.

Sandeep claimed that his brother had told him “several government officials were also involved”. Sandeep’s affidavit even alleged that police have framed advocate Vijay Dabhade in the case. It says Dabhade and Satish had sorted their differences in 2008, he claimed.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, senior counsel Dinyar Madon who was appointed amicus curie [friend of the court] submitted recommendations for protecting activists. Madon recommended that a witness protection programme be initiated. The court has given the state four weeks to study the recommendations and see if they could be implemented.