Bombay High Court asks SIT to move plea before Kolhapur court to stay trial against alleged Govind Pansare killer

The Bombay High Court has directed the state government to move an application before the Kolhapur court seeking to stay the trial against sole accused Sameer Gaikwad, who have been alleged to be involved in the murder of social activist Govind Pansare. The court, in Kolhapur, is likely to frame charges against the accused on March 8.

A division bench of justices Ranjit More and VL Achiliya, while hearing the petition filed by the family members of Pansare and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, said, "It's been a long time since the incident happened and the investigating agency should now speed-up their probe."

Pansare's case is being investigated by a Special Investigating Agency while Dabholkar's case is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court, after going through the status reports filed by both the agencies, said, "We find that the agencies are properly coordinating among each other."

The direction to prosecution to stay the trial against Pansare follows the application for further investigation filed by the SIT as it is yet to get an independent opinion on the ballistic report. The state of Maharashtra and Karnataka CID has given different opinions on the ballistic report. Thus, an Independent opinion from Scotland yard police is being sought.

On May 9, 2014, the HC had transferred the investigation into the murder case of anti-superstition activist Dabholkar from Pune crime branch to the CBI. The main reason for transferring the case was that the court felt a need for a detailed probe. The two deceased were killed by unidentified shooters in separate incidents while they were taking their morning walk. The SIT has arrested one Sameer Gaikwad for his alleged role in the murder of Pansare while no arrests have been made in the Dabholkar case.