Sharad Kalaskar, one of the arrested after explosives were found in his Nallasopara home last week, on Saturday night confessed to the Maharashtra ATS his involvement in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.
“During investigations, Kalaskar also revealed the name of one Sachin Andure, who was arrested two days ago,” said Dhananjay Kulkarni, DCP, ATS, while speaking to Zee News.
However, Adv Sanjeev Punalekar has claimed that his clients are innocent. “The ATS is known to have made mistakes in the past. They have also made several errors in this case,” he claimed.
Along with Kalaskar, another man, Vaibhav Raut was arrested. According to a DNA report published four days ago, Raut had recommended Kalaskar’s name to Vijay Joshi, who was looking for a tenant for a month.
According to Joshi, he was acquainted with Vaibhav Raut (40) and his family for over 15 years. He had rented the flat of Kalaskar upon Raut's recommendation.
Vaibhav Raut (40), Kalaskar and Sudhanava Gondhalekar were arrested in connection with possession of arms and other unlawful activities. The trio — who are suspected to be planning to create chaos in the state — were drilled thoroughly in custody following which the ATS seized additional ammo and other chunks of equipment from Nalasopara and Pune.
Hamid Dabholkar, son of the slain activist, greeted the fresh development, which comes five years after the murder. "Now we hope that the investigating agencies arrest the others involved in the killing. It was only due to pressure from the Bombay High Court that the sleuths made the recent arrest," he added.
Dabholkar's supporters would not stop their protests till all the accused people are in the police net, Hamid said.
Dabholkar, founder of the anti-superstition Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead on August 20, 2013 in Pune.
Recently, the HC had pulled up the CBI and SIT for their slow progress in the Dabholkar and Govind Pansare cases.
Referring to the progress in Gauri Lankesh murder investigation, in which the Karnataka police nabbed the accused, the bench said, "If things are not taken to their final conclusion, soon a situation will arise where every reformist, liberal, social thinker will be afraid to voice his/her opinion and may be in future, most of them will have to be given personal security."
In June 2016, Sanatan Sanstha seeker Virendra Twade was first to be arrested. The CBI had also named Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the one, who carried out the shootout and killed Dabholkar. "We are also looking into the role of other accused in the case. More arrests are expected in the case. It a huge conspiracy and are linked with other cases," said a CBI senior officer.
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