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Advocate Punalekar: From defence lawyer to suspect
CBI on Saturday arrested Punalekar, legal advisor of Sanatan Sanstha, along with his aid Vikram Bhave, for abetting two shooters suspected to have killed Dabholkar on August 20, 2013
Advocate Sanjiv Gajanan Punalekar, arrested in the murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar on Saturday, was till recently a prominent face on television and in the court representing as a lawyer to various suspects including Dr Virendra Tawade, another accused in the case. Dr Tawade, an ear-nose-throat surgeon and a member of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti which is related to a right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha, was arrested in the Dabholkar murder case on June 10, 2016, and was charged with criminal conspiracy and murder of Dabholkar in a chargesheet filed in September 2016.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested Punalekar, legal advisor of Sanatan Sanstha, along with his aid Vikram Bhave, on Saturday for abetting two shooters suspected to have killed Dabholkar on August 20, 2013.
Known to be a rabble-rouser, Punalekar during television debates have frequently articulated Sanstha’s innocence in multiple cases linked to blasts and murders of rationalists in Maharashtra and Karnataka. To provide legal aid, Punalekar was part of a group which formed Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, a group of lawyers, aimed at defending members of the community jailed in various cases across the country.
While Punalekar is the national secretary of Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, defence lawyer is the president of that organisation. It is a voluntary organisation of nationalist and devout Hindu advocates.
Having appeared as a defence lawyer in the Dabholkar case, Punalekar has spoken in support of innocence of Sarang Akolkar and Rudra Patil, both accused in the Dabholkar case. While the arrest of Punalekar has come now, CBI had alleged in 2017 that Punalekar was in touch with Akolkar who is currently absconding in the case.
Earlier, he was also a defence lawyer in the 2009 Madgaon blasts and the 2008 Malegaon blast case. He had appeared for Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Rakesh Dhawade, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Pravin Takalki, among others named in the Malegaon blast case chargesheet which later went to trial.
Sameer Kulkarni, who was among the ones accused and later bailed in the Malegaon blast case, was present in court as his lawyer was sent to CBI custody on Sunday.