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.
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.
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.
CPI leader says the attack is a conspiracy by communal forces to hush up those who have shown courage to stand up to 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.
The court ordered Gaikwad's release on a personal bond of Rs 25,000.
Rijiju said that at present, there is no proposal to ban right-wing group Santhan Sanstha.
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'.
'At the start of the session, (Prime Minister) bows down at the door of Parliament. This is theatrics'
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.
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 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.
"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.
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.
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.
The HC asked the investigators to look beyond their current line of probe to apprehend the culprits.
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 Shiv Sena attacked BJP-led government over failure to arrest the killers of communist leader Govind Pansare.
A bench of Justices S C Dharamadhikari and B P Colabawalla summoned Maharashtra home department's additional chief secretary on March 28 to explain the cause of the slow progress made in the case.
"Are you pursuing it? How can an agency like CBI which falls under the Centre cannot procure the report?" the Bombay HC asked.
Journalist Nikhil Wagle, who has been receiving threats from the Sanatan Sanstha, has rejected the security cover offered to him by the Maharashtra government.
Four teams have been formed by police as part of its probe into the murder of noted Kannada progressive thinker and scholar M M Kalburgi, who was shot dead at his residence at Dharwad in north Karnataka on Sunday.
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.
Conflicting views are emerging over the proposal to ban Sanatan Sanstha, a right wing group allegedly linked to the killing of Govind Pansare.
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.
Sameer Gaikwad, in his early 30s, was arrested from Sangli in a joint operation by the Kolhapur and the local police.
'Now, it feels like the darkness has descended again.'
Close on the heels of the arrest of a man allegedly having links with right-wing outfit Sanatan Sansthan in connection with the murder of Communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare, a 32-year-old woman has been picked up by police for questioning from Kanjurmarg in Mumbai suburb.
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.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday sought to know from Maharashtra government if it has decided to seek a CBI probe in the Govind Pansare murder case as claimed by the lawyer of family of the slain activist, even as the prosecutor said he has no such instruction so far.
'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.'
Dabholkar (67), an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead while on a morning walk on Omkareshwar Bridge here on August 20, 2013.
Another senior officer of Karnataka CID conducted some preliminary enquiries regarding the possible links the hardline outfit with murder of Kalburgi.
"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.
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.
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.
'If timely action was taken by the CBI, the other three murders could have been prevented.'
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.
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