The trial court on Friday postponed arguments on framing of charges in the rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case to September 3, 2021 after a defence lawyer sought a clarification. The arguments over the framing of charges, after which the trial starts, were likely to begin on Friday. Advocate Prakash Salsingikar, a defence lawyer, said a bail application of Virendra Sinh Tawde, one of the accused, was pending before the court.
An application seeking clarification, if the CBI wants to rely on the forensic report given by the Director, Forensic Sciences, Gujarat. The CBI had submitted the report in a sealed envelop in 2017, however, the Bombay High Court had asked them not to furnish it until it directed. The report was crucial for the bail arguments as well as arguments for framing of charges, he said.
Dabholkar, a well-known anti-superstition activist, who was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013. Dr. Dabholkar was shot dead while out for his morning stroll on Pune’s Omkareshwar Bridge on August 20, 2013. The CBI till date has arrested ENT practitioner Dr. Virendra Tawde in 2016, whom the agency referred as the ‘mastermind’ in the case; Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure in August 2018 (named as the ‘sharpshooters’), and lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave in May 2019 as suspects in the crime as last reported in newspapers. The pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in the state of Maharashtra, four days after his death.
Image source: The New Indian Express
