Murders Most Foul: Years later, why are investigations of the deadly killings of rationalists and activists still pending?
It has been quite a few years since rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare were killed, allegedly by Hindu nationalist organisations reportedly the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) and Sanatan Sanstha.
The murders of these prominent thinkers and activists, however, remain unresolved, despite evidence linking their deaths to the larger Sangh Parivar-affiliated groupings.
While Dabholkar was killed in 2013, Govind Pansare and his wife, Uma, came under attack in February 2015. Though Govind succumbed to the bullet injuries he sustained, his wife managed to survive.
Even though the Mumbai Police failed to lay their hands on any substantial evidence then, it was clear that the saffron brigade was apparently targeting rationalists whom it considered 'ungodly' and anti-Hindutva. What linked the two murders together was the discovery that the two men had been killed with similar weapons — a countrymade 7.65 mm pistol.
Eminent scholar MM Kalburgi was also targeted in 2015 with a similar pistol — which led police to the conclusion that the same group was behind the three murders.
Interestingly, journalist Gauri Lankesh was also killed in Bengaluru with a similar weapon in 2017. It was the Karnataka Police whose investigation led to the conclusion that the murders were committed using similar weapons.
The shooters involved in the case had reportedly been practising how to take aim for some time before the actual killings. The fact came to the fore after the arrest of reportedly one Devidas Suryavanshi and is apparently recorded in the chargesheet of the Kolhapur Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed in Pansare’s murder case.
It is said that the report also saysthe planning of Pansare’s murder was inspired by a book titled Kshatradharma Sadhana — published by Sanatan Sanstha.
The SIT chargesheet, filed in February 2019, reportedly claimed Virendrasinh Tawde to be behind Pansare’s murder. Twade is also the main accused in the murder of Narendra Dabholkar.
In December 2018, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to investigate if there is a “common thread” between the murders of Lankesh, Kalburgi, activist Narendra Dabholkar and communist leader Govind Pansare. If a thread could be established, the court wanted the same investigative agency to head all cases.
On February 26, the SC transferred the murder case of professor Kalburgi to the same SIT probing the Gauri Lankesh murder case.
The court reportedly accepted that there was a common link to the murders.
However, despite evidence purportedly linking Sanatan Sanstha and HJS to the murders, the organisations have continued to operate freely in the country. Why are the hands of the police thus tied? Is it because of the political patronage the Sanstha purportedly enjoys?
It is time the police is given a free hand to investigate these cases.
They have certainly waited a long time already for answers and for closure.
Also read: The mysterious case of murdered rationalists and their missing killers