On August 20, 2013, Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was murdered and at that time, Maharashtra was ruled by the anti-Hindu Congress and NCP. Sharad Pawar always advocated banning Sanatan Sanstha, calling it a terror organization. This was the first time Hindus were labelled as terrorists in Indian history. The murders continued and in 2015, Communist leader Govind Pansare and journalist Gauri Lankesh were killed. The Dabholkar murder case was under investigation and these two other cases created an uproar on social media. The socially elite class and section of civil society started mounting pressure on the then government of the BJP-Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) alliance. The government came in and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was assigned to probe the murder. SIT took custody of Sharad Kalaskar, a member of Sanatan Sanstha, who was accused of the murders of Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Gauri Lankesh. If a person is associated with an organization or is dedicated to that organization, it does not mean that the organization is responsible for his every action. In a hurry, Sanatan Sanstha was declared a terrorist organization so that the morale of Hindus could be broken by attacking the organization that supports Hindus and keeps the Hindu religion strong.
Well, the matter did not end here; by spreading objectionable news about the organization, its reputation was being tarnished. The raids on Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti were conducted, and its members were arrested, kept in jail, and tortured so that they would not say anything. So far, Maharashtra police have failed to get evidence against the so-called accused in the case and finally, the CBI took over the investigations. The CBI arrested Punalekar, the legal advisor of Sanatan Sanstha, along with his aid Vikram Bhave, for abetting two shooters suspected to have killed Dabholkar. Advocate Sanjiv Gajanan Punalekar, was a prominent face and voice on television and he was representing as a lawyer various suspects, including Dr. Virendra Tawade, another accused in the case. Dr. Tawade is an ENT surgeon and a member of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, which is related to Sanatan Sanstha. He was charged with criminal conspiracy and murdering Dabholkar in a chargesheet filed in September 2016.
Punalekar, during television debates, has often voiced Sanstha’s innocence in multiple cases linked to blasts and murders. To provide legal aid, Punalekar was part of a group that formed the Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, a group of lawyers, aimed at defending members of the community jailed in various cases across the country. Punalekar had a strong voice and was also a critic of the whole case. He started targeting the government and the police and overnight he became a thorn in the eyes of the police. The CBI found it appropriate to imprison him to suppress his voice.
Having appeared as a defence lawyer in the Dabholkar case, Punalekar has spoken in support of the innocence of Sarang Akolkar and Rudra Patil, both accused in the Dabholkar case. After the arrest of Punalekar, the CBI came up with the allegation that he was in touch with Akolkar, who is absconding. Despite tremendous pressure, Punalekar denied that he helped destroy guns used to kill Narendra Dabholkar and Gauri Lankesh. After many arrests were made, the police were still clueless, and they announced a bounty on many suspects but failed to conclude. So many members of Sanstha were taken into custody but so far no one has proven guilty. Why?
Sanjeev Punalekar, in the UAPA court, had accepted that Kalaskar used to meet him before the latter was arrested by the ATS. Punalekar also accepted that Vikram Bhave, who is an accused in another case, started working as his assistant after getting bail in July 2013. During the court proceedings, Punalekar raised a question: if the CBI’s allegations were true, then the CBI should have taken action against him almost seven months ago, because the CBI was banking on Sharad Kalaskar’s statement given to a Karnataka SIT on October 12, 2018, and the CBI’s chargesheet that it filed against Kalaskar in February 2019. Punalekar argued that sections 126 and 129 of the Attorney-Client Privilege Act gave him and his clerk Vikram Bhave, special protection. He argued that under the above section, clients could confide in him.
Sanjeev Punalekar’s lawyer challenged the CBI’s claim that Kalaskar was guided by Punalekar to destroy the firearms as bogus and vindictive. The defense said if Kalaskar was told to destroy the firearms, then what was the need for him to store other firearms at his residence? He said it would be stupidity if Sharad Kalaskar stored the other arms at his place just to get arrested by the ATS in the Nalasopara arms haul case. Advocate Ichalkaranjikar argued that Punalekar was unnecessarily being harassed because he had filed a number of PILs in the interest of the nation. One of Punalekar’s PILs helped the government get back 8,000 acres of revenue department land that was gobbled away by land sharks. So, he felt Punalekar was being harassed by making such false cases against him. Many right-wing think tanks believe that by harassing Sanstha members, perhaps the government at that time was planning to destroy Sanatan Sanstha.
Sanjeev Punalekar 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, and 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,.
In 2019, Sanjeev Punalekar was granted conditional bail by the Pune Sessions Court on a surety amount of Rs 30,000. Punalekar was directed by the court to visit the CBI office twice a week, not to leave the country without the agency’s permission and not to pressure the witnesses. Punalekar was the fourth accused to get bail in the case after Amit Degvekar, Amol Kale, and Rajesh Bangera. Now the question here is, if Sanjiv Punalekar was the mastermind in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case, why was he granted conditional bail by a special Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) court?
Now the question is whether he is found innocent, who will compensate for the atrocities committed against him or the damage done to his honour? Will this advocate again be able to stand up with the same zeal to get justice for Hindus? Will his morale not be broken somewhere in all these events?
