Discharge pleas of accused in Pansare murder case rejected

Ample of material on record against Virendra Tawde and Sachin Andure, holds Sessions Court

A Sessions Court in Kolhapur recently held there is “ample of material on record against Virendra Tawde and Sachin Andure”, and rejected their discharge applications in the killing of rationalist Govind Pansare in 2016.

Additional Sessions Judge B.D. Shelke took all the evidence put forth by the prosecution in the case. The court recorded: “A book named Kshatra Dharma Sadhna [authored by Hindu right wing group Sanathan Sanstha’s founder Jayant Athavale] was recovered from Mr. Tawde. The index of said book shows what is meant by dharma (as aspect of truth) and adhyatma (spirituality). The book also explains who are required to be protected and who are required to be eliminated as per the ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’. Some newspaper cuttings were placed on record that showed Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and Pansare were criticising Sanathan Sanstha.”

The court on April 25 said: “Through statements of witnesses, it is revealed that Mr, Tawde was working as an organiser of Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti in the State of Maharashtra. He was also working as a District Organiser of Kolhapur for Sanathan Sanstha. He was opposing the programmes of Comrade Pansare through followers of Sanathan Dharma Sanstha. On the day of the incident, Mr. Tawde was found in the nearby area of the spot of incident where the shots of firearms were fired on Comrade Pansare. He, along with other co-accused, entered into an agreement on how to kill Pansare. He also procured fire arms for commission of the crime and also procured stolen motorcycles through other co-­accused for killing Pansare.”

The order mentions: “Mr. Andure was a follower of Sanathan Dharma Sanstha and was arranging meetings and deciding to eliminate the persons criticising the Sanathan Dharma Sanstha as per the ideology laid down in the book Kshatra Dharma Sadhana.”

The court has relied upon statements of witnesses given to the Karnataka Police in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh that show “ample of prima facie evidence against Mr Andure”.

On February 16, 2015, the 82-year-old author of Shivaji’s biography and a Communist Party of India (CPI) leader, Pansare died when he was shot five times as he was returning home from a morning walk with his wife Uma, who was also shot at and died on February 20.