Nothing left to investigate in Pansare murder: ATS to Bombay HC

MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that it had investigated all allegations made in the application by the kin of slain communist leader and trade union activist Govind Pansare and that there is nothing more to be done was. to research.

Pansare’s family members had alleged in a letter to the Maharashtra ATS that Hindutva organization Sanatan Sanstha was systematically killing intellectuals in Maharashtra and Karnataka and demanded an inquiry into its activities. The 68-page letter was submitted to Jayant Meena, Superintendent of Police, ATS, Pune Division, ahead of a hearing at the Bombay High Court.

Jayant Meena, who was present at the court, submitted the November 12 letter as well as his report on the allegations contained in the letter.

Lawyer Abhay Nevagi told the court that there was danger to 34 other people, including journalists Kumar Ketkar and Nikhil Wagle. “One of the accused is also involved in the 2010 Goa bomb blast case,” he told the court, adding that a combined reading of the charge sheets for different crimes would show that the Sanatan Sanstha had conducted pistol training sessions and a few workshops on making of weapons. crude bombs. “That is why we are saying that this goes beyond one person and there is a bigger conspiracy,” he said, pointing out that the same weapons were used in the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Pansare, Gauri Lankesh and MM Kalburgi.

However, according to the court, there is not much more to investigate. “The ATS has been conducting investigations for the past two years… It says UAPA provisions cannot be invoked. We believe they have completed the investigation,” the bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata said.

Advocate Subhash Jha, appearing for the accused Virendra Tawade, said, “No prayers from the petition are pending. The surveillance is over, the investigation is over, three charge sheets have been filed and 28 witnesses have been interviewed.” Jha further emphasized that “superior courts overseeing an investigation can have detrimental effects on the investigation. Once the investigation is over, there can be no more supervision.”

The HC has now adjourned the matter for the family to deliberate on whether any action should be taken.

Common link

Pansare and his wife Uma were shot by two assailants during a morning walk in Kolhapur on February 16, 2015. Pansare succumbed to his injuries on February 20 while his wife survived. The Bombay High Court on August 3, 2022 transferred the case from the Maharashtra Police to the Maharashtra ATS “to probe the larger conspiracy” behind the series of murders as there “appeared to be a common nexus”.

In its affidavit filed at the ATS office in Pune on June 27, the Pansare family reiterated the Supreme Court’s observations and said: “You (ATS) will appreciate that there is a common sophisticated network of organized criminals/organized crime syndicate of the Sanatan Sanstha behind the four murders. It is no mere coincidence that its members… have been accused/convicted of heinous crimes for over a decade.”

When subsequently contacted by HT, Sanatan Sanstha had strongly refuted the allegations leveled against him in the Pansare family representation. Sanstha national spokesperson Chetan Rajhans had claimed that Sanatan Sanstha was a spiritual organization and not related to any illegal activity or organized crime syndicate. “The Pansare family’s allegations against Sanatan Sanstha are just theories, propaganda to defame us,” he said. “Pansare’s death hurts us, but the Pansare family is using his death to discredit us.”