“CBI has arrested Virendra Singh Tawde in an ongoing investigation of a case related to murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar”.
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Dr. Tawde, a qualified ENT surgeon, alleged before the court that he was “assaulted by CBI interrogators”.
Virendra Tawde, a doctor, associated with rightwing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, was arrested yesterday from his residence at Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra.
“Since the role of extremist outfits has been exposed in Pansare’s murder and now in Dr. Dabholkar’s case, we demand that the State government take stern action against such outfits and that the CBI team, investigating Dr. Dabholkar’s murder co-ordinate with the SIT, probing Mr. Pansare’s murder”, said Medha Pansare, Mr. Pasare’s daughter-in-law.
He was arrested late last night in Panvel near Mumbai and a court in Pune today sent him to CBI custody till June 16.
Anti-superstition activist Dabholkar, an Indian rationalist and author was shot dead by unidentified assailants while he was on a morning walk on the bridge near Omkareshwar temple in Pune on August 20, 2013.
34-year-old Akolkar is suspected to be one of the key conspirators in the murder of Dabholkar. A Red Corner Notice was issued by the Interpol against Akolkar in July 2012.
In September 2014, Dabholkar’s murder investigation was handed over to the CBI on Bombay High Court’s orders on the basis of a PIL.
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Dabholkar’s son Hameed and daughter Mukta termed the arrest “belated but a very big step in the right direction”. “Hope the investigators reach the main perpetrators with this arrest and also arrest other suspect Sarang Akolkar”, he said. “Similarly they had arrested six Sanatan members in Margao blast case and released them after five years”, said Abhay Vartak, Sanatan spokesperson. Tawade is the first accused to be arrested in the almost three-year-old case. “This is all a bi g conspiracy”, Vartak told PTI. “He was a Sanstha member, but was not holding any post”.
