Dabholkar murder case: Forensics to ascertain if recovered weapon was used to kill rationalist

“Andure claims that after killing Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, he handed over the weapon to Pune resident Amol Kale. Then, when Kale visited him at his Aurangabad residence in 2014, he gave Andure a weapon. Andure is non-committal if this was the same weapon he had used to kill Dabholkar the previous year, or if this weapon was used in subsequent murders of other rationalists, or why Kale asked him to keep this weapon safe,” said an official requesting anonymity.

“Andure said he later gave this pistol and other weapons for safekeeping to his brothers-in-law Shubham Swarale and Ajinkya Swarale. On Monday night, when the brothers-in-law were questioned, they disclosed that they had given these to a friend, Rohit Rege. The said friend’s house was searched and the weapons were recovered. We are now probing if this weapon was used in the killing,” the official added. Late Tuesday, based on CBI’s complaint, the Aurangabad police arrested the three under Arms Act.

Read | Dabholkar murder case: In five years, four arrested, but contradiction haunts investigation

Amol Kale, accused in the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, is being treated as a person on interest by the CBI and the Maharashtra ATS in the Dabholkar case. Kale has reportedly emerged as the second plotter along with arrested accused Virendra Tawde in the case. “It was Tawde and Kale who decided to eliminate Dabholkar for his views and started scouting for shooters. Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, who attended various protests and functions organised by the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, met the two during these functions. Kale and Tawde gave them training in firing a weapon. We suspect Kale also arranged for weapons used in the killing of Dabholkar,” said the official. The agency is likely to seek his custody soon.

If the FSL confirms that the weapon was used in the Dabholkar killing, it would be a major breakthrough.  “Past ballistic reports by the Gujarat and Bengaluru FSLs have opined that of the two weapons used in Dabholkar’s murder, one was used in the killing of Govind Pansare and the other in the murder of M M Kalburgi. The same weapon is suspected to have been used in the Lankesh killing. If the FSL confirms the seized weapon to be the common weapon, it will be a major breakthrough,” said an official.

Read | Dabholkar murder case: Andure, Tawde hatched murder conspiracy, says CBI

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra ATS, probing the recovery of a large cache of arms and ammunition from members of various radical outfits, said that while the arrested accused worked in silos, they could be involved in multiple cases.
“For instance, the four arrested were part of the module planing to carry out blasts in five cities in Maharashtra, but one of them, Kalaskar, was also the shooter in the Dabholkar case. This implies that while they were working in silos, simultaneously, they were involved in other cases,” said a senior ATS officer on the condition of anonymity.

While the four arrested accused are members of different Hindutva groups, their social media profile shows that they were attending functions organised by the Sanatan Sanstha and its offshoot Hindu Janjagruti Samiti.  “During the course of the probe, if there is a need to question Sanatan Sanstha founder Jayant Athavale, he would be summoned,” said the official. The official also said that the five accused had travelled to other states, including Goa.