Judge S S Tambe on Monday framed charges against Sameer Gaikwad, Virendra Sinh Tawde, Amol Kale, Vasudev Suryawanshi, Bharat Kurane, Amit Degvekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin.
The activist's family members last month filed an application in the high court seeking for the probe to be transferred to the ATS claiming that the SIT has not been able to make a breakthrough in the case yet.
The Bombay High Court has discontinued its monitoring of the investigation into the 2015 murder of communist leader and rationalist writer Govind Pansare, directing the sessions court to expedite the ongoing trial. The decision comes after a report by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) indicated that the investigation has been thoroughly conducted, with only the arrest of two absconding accused remaining. The court has ordered daily hearings for the trial, which has already begun and has seen 28 prosecution witnesses examined as of December 16, 2024.
Remarks by Congress and NCP (SP) leaders in Maharashtra suggesting the term 'Sanatani terrorist' have sparked a controversy, drawing strong criticism from the BJP, which accuses them of 'Hindu hatred' and 'appeasement politics'.
Veteran Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare, who was shot at earlier this week, died at a hospital in Mumbai late Friday night after he was airlifted for treatment to the city this evening from Kolhapur. He was 82.
A post-mortem examination was conducted on Saturday on the body of veteran communist leader Govind Pansare, who died in Mumbai after he was airlifted to the city from Kolhapur for treatment.
'At the start of the session, (Prime Minister) bows down at the door of Parliament. This is theatrics'
Additional sessions judge A A Jadhav of the special court for cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is likely to pronounce the judgement on Friday, said special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi.
Dabholkar (67), an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead while on a morning walk on Omkareshwar Bridge here on August 20, 2013.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation whether there was any "common thread" in the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare, activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M M Kalburgi.
CPI leader says the attack is a conspiracy by communal forces to hush up those who have shown courage to stand up to them.
'Now, it feels like the darkness has descended again.'
The court ordered Gaikwad's release on a personal bond of Rs 25,000.
Journalist Nikhil Wagle, who has been receiving threats from the Sanatan Sanstha, has rejected the security cover offered to him by the Maharashtra government.
The Congress accused the BJP of spreading mischief through its "hate factory".
Rijiju said that at present, there is no proposal to ban right-wing group Santhan Sanstha.
The official said the organisation, composed of people drawn from Hindu right groups, had around 60 members spread across at least five states but had no name.
Shah also said that such murders have taken place in Pakistan too, mentioning the violent deaths of politician Salman Taseer and rights activist Sabeen Mehmood.
'One after the other, they have committed four murders (Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh)...' 'They feel they will not have to face the consequences of their actions as it is a favourable time for them.'
Pansare, who was shot at and critically wounded by unidentified assailants outside his housing society after returning from a morning walk on February 16, succumbed to his injuries at Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai late Friday night.
Hamid Dabholkar, son of the slain rationalist thinker and founder of Maharastra Andhshradha Nirmulan Samiti, said there is a "striking similarity" between the three murders.
The trio -- Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin -- was lodged in jails in Mumbai and Pune under judicial custody in different cases, the police said.
'If timely action was taken by the CBI, the other three murders could have been prevented.'
"The other Hindu organisations have some or the other backing. They have not been taking the hard stance on certain issues like we do," he added.
The Mumbai police arrested a man from Bengaluru for allegedly threatening Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray, an official said on Thursday.
The Special Investigating Team probing the murder of rationalist and Left leader Govind Pansare suspects role of two more Sanatan Sanstha members, who are absconding in connection with the 2009 Madgaon blast, in the case, police sources said on Monday.
The two -- Amit Raghavendra Baddi and Ganesh Miski -- both residents of Hubballi, were arrested on Sunday, special investigating officer M N Anucheth said.
Acclaimed writer Nayantara Sahgal, the niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against the "vicious assault" on India's diversity and the government's failure to protect cultural diversity.
Rushikesh Devdikar alias Murali, 44, who was absconding was arrested on Thursday from his hideout at Katras in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand, the SIT said in a statement. According to the probe team, Devdikar was part of the conspiracy to kill Lankesh. He is accused number 18 in the case.
Gaikwad's bail application came up before Justice C V Bhadang who adjourned the matter to July 11 with the mutual consent of the accused and the prosecution.
So far, six people, including Hindu Janajagruti Samiti member and ENT surgeon Virendrasinh Tawde, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the killing of Dabholkar.
"We strongly condemn the allegation levelled by Shyam Manav... Hypnotism does not possess the power to make a person do violent act," said the spokesperson of the Sanstha, Abhay Vartak, at a press conference in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena attacked BJP-led government over failure to arrest the killers of communist leader Govind Pansare.
An unidentified body with two bullet injuries has been found at a village in Belagavi district and police were verifying if it resembled the sketch of one of the two killers of writer M M Kalburgi, who was gunned down at Dharwad in August.
Facing heat over a long list of writers who have returned Sahitya Akademi awards or resigned from their posts in the literary body, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday denied that it was being soft on the issue of "intolerance" and said the ideological inclinations of the writers should be looked into.
Teams of Maharashtra ATS and Mumbai police have been roped in to assist the Kolhapur police in the probe on the attack on the veteran communist leader Govind Pansare and his wife.
In another development, the CBI submitted in a sealed cover a forensic report from Ahmedabad Forensic Laboratory on ballistic evidence related to the killing of the three rationalists --- Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi.
The unidentified body found with two bullet injuries at a village in Belagavi district was not of one of the two killers of writer M M Kalburgi, but a criminal who was killed by his two brothers and his friend, a senior police official said here on Sunday.
The HC asked the investigators to look beyond their current line of probe to apprehend the culprits.
Another senior officer of Karnataka CID conducted some preliminary enquiries regarding the possible links the hardline outfit with murder of Kalburgi.
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