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CBI to provide chargesheet to accused in Dabholkar murder case
CBI representative special public prosecutor Prakash Suryavanshi, will share the chargesheets submitted in the case with Dr Virendra Tawade, Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agreed on Wednesday to share copies of chargesheets in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar with the three accused in the case.
The CBI representative, special public prosecutor Prakash Suryavanshi, agreed to share the chargesheets submitted in the case with Dr Virendra Tawade, Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure.
The first chargesheet in the matter was filed on September 6, 2016, naming Dr Tawade as the main conspirator, while naming Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the shooters. The supplementary chargesheet in the case was filed on February 13, 2019 naming Andure and Kalaskar as the two shooters.
The three had submitted applications in the court of Special Judge KD Vadane seeking copies of the chargesheet. The hearing on Wednesday, however, was held in the court of judge VS Kulkarni as judge Vadane is on vacation.
“After invoking the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges, the case was shifted to another court. In the earlier court, we have already submitted the chargesheet as well as two copies for the accused. Virtually there is no matter, this is a non-issue. They can get the chargesheet whenever they want,” said SR Singh, additional superintendent of police, CBI.
“We have been asking for the chargesheet for the past three months. Whatever has been provided to Tawade has to be provided to Kalaskar and Andure and the documents given to Andure and Kalaskar have to be provided to Tawade,” said advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar representing the two alleged shooters. “This is simply their way of delaying the trial in the case because they do not have any proof against them,” he added.
“The special public prosecutor has amicably agreed to share the chargesheet till the next hearing. There should be no need to file an application seeking the chargesheet. It should have been provided to the accused as per the law,” said advocate Sameer Patwardhan appearing for Dr Tawade.
The two lawyers claimed that if the complete chargesheet is not provided to all of them, they are eligible for default benefit. Two earlier bail applications by Dr Tawade have been rejected by the court.
The supplementary chargesheet claims that Andure and Khaladkar had fired three gunshots in total at Narendra Dabholkar.
The slain rationalist was shot on the morning of August 20, 2013, on Omkareshwar bridge while he was a morning walk.
The latest chargesheet invokes charges against the two under Section 302 (murder), 120(criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and Section 16 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, along with Section 3(25) of Arms Act against the two alleged shooters.
