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The acquittal of 3 accused is a victory : Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, President, Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad

Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar giving his reaction

Pune – “Dr Virender Singh Tawde has been acquitted. There was a major allegation against him of being the mastermind, which was rejected by the Court. The CBI tried to convict him by alleging ‘terrorist activities’. The Court also rejected that allegation. Vikram Bhave was accused of recce (showing the way to the alleged murderers). This too also rejected by the Court. Sanjeev Punalekar earlier acted as a lawyer in this case; but later he too was convicted. Allegations against him were rejected by the Court. I believe that this is a victory for us. Also, we are deeply saddened by the punishment received by other 2 accused in this case. There was no strong reason in favour of this punishment; as a demented witness identifying the accused in the Court 9 years later is beyond reasonable doubt,” reacted Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, Hindu Vishidnya Parishad, regarding today’s Court verdict of Dabholkar murder case.

Botched up investigation of the CBI

There were 3 cases in this matter. Murder weapon was allegedly taken from Nagori and Khandelwal, they were kept aside subsequently. Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar were accused of shooting Dabholkar. Akolkar’s house was raided. A reward of Rs 5 lakh was declared for giving information on them. Suddenly, all of this was put aside again. Investigation can never be jumping from one conclusion to another like this. Investigation cannot have first or second edition, it is not a web-series. Considering all this we believe that CBI’s investigation was botched up. In 2018, CBI came up with a third theory. Based on that theory, today’s verdict has been pronounced. It is a dangerous thing that the previous witnesses misidentified the accused earlier based on previous theories. The investigation should not happen in this way. Two of the witnesses testified differently in the ‘chief-examination’ and not in the ‘cross-examination’. In such circumstances, it is with a heavy and restless heart that we accept this verdict. Perhaps we will go to the High Court against this immediately.

CBI did not run the trial for 6 years after filing the charge sheet

For the first time in the history of India, the CBI filed a charge sheet, apprehended the accused and when the lawyers of the accused asked to run the trial, the CBI told they did not want to run the trial. The CBI took a stay from the High Court. From 2016 to 2021, there was no trial. The trial started post 2021. On 10th June 2016, Dr Virendra Singh Tawde was arrested. He was acquitted today on 10th May 2024. He spent so many years in prison. The society should think who would compensate for his time in jail.

Will challenge the verdict in the High Court

A ‘turning point’ is yet to come in this case, because only three accused have been acquitted. So, the fight is not over yet. It might take a turn in the High Court or the Supreme Court, but acquittal of 3 is no small feat. We’ll study the verdict of the Court and challenge it in the High Court.

Will challenge the conviction of 2 accused in the High Court : Advocate Prakash Salsingikar

Advocate Prakash Salsingikar

Dabholkar was murdered on 20th August 2013. At that time, some media and political leaders quickly passed the judgment, due to which, the investigating officers could not conduct the investigation in the right direction. Although Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure have been convicted today, we are going to challenge it in Court once the full copy of the verdict is available.

The case was not allowed to go to ‘trial’. If you look at the ‘Roznama’ website, you will realise who did not let it go on trial. Even without a ‘stay’, the case was kept pending for many years. The accused kept asking to run the trial. Even 2 months ago, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court not to end the case. ‘Monitoring’ was also stopped by the High Court; but again, it was challenged. No one wanted the case to end. A charge sheet of thousands of pages was brought to the Court; but it had no points against the accused. Being aware of this, ‘not allowing the case to end’ was the only option. Today the Court has acquitted 3 accused. We believe that 2 others will also be acquitted in the High Court.

The advocate who was defending the accused in this case (Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar) was made an accused subsequently. He was made an accused without any evidence. He had to stay in jail for 42-43 days for no reason. He has filed several PILs. For the welfare of poor, he had filed a PIL demanding 10% reserved beds for the poor in Government as well as private hospitals. It is regrettable that Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, responsible for all these kind acts, was made an accused in this case. He suffered for so many years even though there was no evidence against him. He was made to hear that he is an accused under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act); but the Court acquitted him for lack of evidence.

The arrest of Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure is wrong : Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar

Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar

In this case, earlier some people were arrested on charges of murdering Dabholkar. Later, the investigating agency arrested Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar. Andure and Kalaskar were not identified in this case. The witnesses identified the photographs of earlier accused as well as Andure and Kalaskar who were arrested subsequently. Then who was the murderer actually ? Therefore, the arrest of Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure is wrong.

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