Sameer Gaikwad’s arrest confirms about the outfit’s link in the elimination of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar.
Even though the police claims to have made a headway in the Govind Pansare murder case by arresting Sameer Gaikwad from Sangli but investigations gathered pace after the murder of Kannada scholar and researcher M M Kalburgi in Dharwad, Karnataka. Probe was fast tracked after left parties and rationalist forces expressed concern about the snail paced investigation process of this case. Sanatan Sanstha has been in controversy for its extreme right wing ideology and was on radar from last two years, after the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune. Activists of this organisation have also been arrested for their role in a blast in Thane’s Gadkari theatre. Its members were also arrested in another blast case in Madgaon, Goa. AV too had reported about the involvement of Sanatan Sanstha in murder of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. Gaikwad’s arrest confirms about the outfit’s link in the elimination of these rationalists.
Even though more than two years have passed after the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar but police still remain clueless about the accused’s whereabouts. The Karnataka government had announced Rs 5 lakh reward to those who could provide clues about the murder of Kalburgi.
Kolhapur and Sangli Police have launched a joint operation to nab Sameer Gaikwad. Police said Gaikwad has some criminal backgound. He was produced in a court at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra which remanded him in police custody till September 23.
Sachin Sawant said, “There has always been doubts about the involvement of fundamentalist outfits behind the murder of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar. Since reports about the involvement of Sanathan Sanstha has come up hence the government must impose a ban on this outfit.”
Inspector General of Police Sanjay Kumar Verma, heading the SIT, confirmed the development.
“Samir is an active member of Sanatan Sanstha since 1998 and has been arrested and remanded to police custody until September 23. The arrest has been made on leads we got through electronic surveillance,” Verma said.
According to Verma, accused Gaikwad and his family members are associated with Sanatan Sanstha. Gaikwad used to frequently visit the outfit’s asharam in Goa.
Govind Pansare’s daughter-in-law Megha Pansare said, “Sameer Gaekwad is a resident of Sangli. He is linked to Sanathan Sanstha. The police tracked Sameer’s whereabouts through his call details. He used to run a mobile shop in Sangli four years back.”
Uma Pansare, Govind Pansare’s wife said, “The police have done a laudable job by arresting Sameer Gaekwad. They should investigate this matter thoroughly in order to avert the murder of rationalists in future.”
On February 16, Pansare was gunned down outside his house in Sagar Mala locality of Kolhapur city and five days later succumbed to his injuries at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital. The police managed to procure CCTV footage of the nearby areas but owing to its poor quality they were sent to London for enhancement. New sketches were prepared based on the enhanced footage received from London.
Pansare’s family has been demanding a probe into the Communist leader’s murder. They had also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court which had asked Maharashtra government to file its response to the petition seeking constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killing.
The Karnataka and Maharashtra police will work together to find out if the murder of Professor Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare are in any way linked. The Karnataka CID which has formed four teams has already sent a batch of officers to Maharashtra.
