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Bombay High Court reprimands SIT, CBI over activists' murders

The court also questioned the CBI, which is probing the Dabholkar murder case, and said: "What information have you gathered from the local police? Before you took over the case, the local police might have investigated it.

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Observing that it was not here to celebrate anniversaries of every matter and its only anxiety was to see that the investigations come to an end, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday reprimanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), which are probing the murders of activists Govind Pansare and Dr Narendra Dabholkar.

A division bench of justice SC Dharmadhikari and justice Dr Shalini Phansalkar Joshi said: "The incidents have taken place in the years 2014 and 2015 and yet you (agencies) are (still) investigating the matter. These are crimes against the society and instead of investigating the crime, you are trying to investigate the similarities in them."

The court also questioned the CBI, which is probing the Dabholkar murder case, and said: "What information have you gathered from the local police? Before you took over the case, the local police might have investigated it.

Shouldn't they be involved in the investigations?" Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for the CBI, informed the court that the CBI is in regular touch with the SIT formed by the state government and a status report on the investigations would be filed by May 2.

Similarly, public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde, appearing for the SIT, informed the court that the charge sheet against the lone arrested accused Sameer Gaikwad has been filed and an application for further investigation has also been moved before the trial court. As per directions from an earlier bench of the high court that was hearing the case, the framing of charges against the accused has been stayed.

The court, though, vacated the stay imposed on the trial and the court in Kolhapur is likely to frame charges against Gaikwad on April 29. The stay on the trial followed the application for further investigation filed by the SIT, which is awaiting an independent opinion on the ballistic report. The state of Maharashtra and Karnataka CID has given different opinions on the ballistic report, on the weapons used in the murders of Pansare, Dabholkar and Dr MM Kalburgi in Karnataka. Thus, an independent opinion from the Central Forensic Laboratory in Delhi has been sought.

On May 9, 2014, the HC had transferred the probe into the Dabholkar murder case to the CBI. The main reason for transferring the case was that the court felt the need for a detailed probe. The two deceased were killed by unidentified shooters in separate incidents while they were on their morning walk.

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