The Pune police on Tuesday produced before the Bombay High Court the original ‘case diaries’ in the probe relating to the murder of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, complyng with its direction.
The bench headed by Justice PV Hardas, however, asked police to submit a Photostat copy of the case diaries for the perusal of the court instead of filing the original document.
Adjourning the matter for two weeks, the court told the police to produce a copy of the case diaries a few days before the next hearing so that they can go through the documents.
Atul Almeida, lawyer for Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta, urged the court to grant one week more to file an application seeking intervention in the case. A fortnight ago he had made a similar plea and the court had asked him to file a written plea.
The court said that Mukta could file a written application if she wanted to intervene.
Last month, the court had issued notice to CBI after petitioner Ketan Tirodkar amended his plea to include the agency as a respondent instead of NIA.
Tirodkar argued that NIA had restricted jurisdiction as it was involved only in cases of terror, while CBI has wider powers as it investigates serious crimes.
Dabholkar, who spearheaded the anti-superstition movement in Maharashtra, was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013 while on a morning walk. Police are still clueless about identity of his assailants.
Earlier, police had informed the court that there was no evidence suggesting the involvement of right-wing extremists in Dabholkar’s killing. Police also said that since he was not facing any threat, there was no question of them preparing a perception report (prior to the murder) and monitoring his activities.
Police in their affidavit had termed as a ‘figment of imagination’ the petitioner’s contention that the murder was the handiwork of right-wing extremists and said it was not supported by any factual evidence.
