E-Paper
Pune Sessions Court grants bail to three accused in Dabholkar case
The court of judicial magistrate first class SMA Sayyed, granted bail to Amol Kale, Rajesh Bangera and Amit Digwekar, after the Central bureau of investigation (CBI) failed to file its chargesheet within 90 days
The Pune sessions court on Friday granted bail to three suspects in the murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. The court of judicial magistrate first class SMA Sayyed, granted bail to Amol Kale, Rajesh Bangera and Amit Digwekar, after the Central bureau of investigation (CBI) failed to file its chargesheet within 90 days.
However, the three will not be released as they are also suspects in other cases. While Bangera and Digvekar are currently in a Bengaluru jail in connection with journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder; Kale is accused in the killing of leftist leader Govind Pansare.
CBI had not pressed for an extension of time to file the chargesheet under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (Uapa) charges.
Two of the accused will continue remain in judicial custody in connection with Gauri Lankesh murder case, while accused Amol Kale will continue to be in police custody of the Maharashtra special investigation team (SIT) in the Govind Pansare murder case. All three accused were initially arrested by the Karanatka SIT in the Gauri Lankesh murder case and were handed over to CBI in connection with Dabholkar’s assassination.
CBI had recently filed an application seeking extension of 90 days to file its chargesheet against two other accused, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, under Uapa charges. A 45- day extension was granted by the sessions court.
Advocate Sanjiv Punalekar, who represented the three suspects who were granted bail, in a statement said that CBI had made application for the time extension for filing chargesheet against Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure as the investigation could not be completed in 90 days. “Kale, Digwekar and Bangera were taken into custody immediately after the arrest of Sachin Andure. However, CBI did not have enough evidence to seek a time extension for these three persons. Hence, CBI did not make application,” Punalekar said.
Punalekar alleged that Amol Kale being put forth as the “mastermind” of the Dabholkar murder is on the basis that some 10 years ago, he allegedly participated in activities of the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti. “We only expect that the cases against Hindu activists be heard and disposed off expeditiously,” he said.
Body cameras effective against traffic violators: Police
The body cameras used by officials of the traffic department of Pune police have been proved as an effective deterrent against unruly traffic rule violators, according to Tejaswi Satpute, deputy commissioner of police, traffic.
The body cameras can prove to be essential in fighting violent behaviour from traffic-rule violators in the light of an increased number of such occurrences. In 2017, the traffic police were complainants in 15 cases under Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). So until November 2018, the number of cases under section 353 of IPC had reached 26.
As a result, in addition to the existing 17 cameras, the traffic police department has ordered 85 new body cameras. The process to acquire these body cameras has also opened other avenues for the police department due to the platform from which the cameras will be ordered.
With a verified buyer account on gem.gov.in, traffic police department became the first police establishment from Pune to shop online from the government platform called Government e-Marketplace (GeM).
“We gave body cameras to the officials deployed in places where conflict was reported earlier and Deccan and Kothrud were among the places and JM Road and FC road in the Deccan division. Since the body cameras were provided to traffic police, not even a single case has been reported from that area,” said DCP Satpute.
Once the order is placed, the police had to wait for 12 days before the order reached providers on GeM. The purchase will be made from the government e-marketplace website which has various options from providers such as CP Plus, Dahua, Hope, Transcend, future zone and MSIPL.
