Further court monitoring of Pansare murder probe not necessary: HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday ruled that there was no further need to monitor the investigation into the murder of Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare as the only aspect that remained to be probed was tracing two absconding accused.

“According to us, only for the purpose of arrest of the absconding accused, continuous monitoring of further investigation by this court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not necessary,” the division bench of justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata noted, disposing the petition filed by the deceased’s daughter and daughter-in-law seeking formation of an SIT and a court-monitored probe into his death.

The court on Thursday also disposed pleas by prime accused Virendrasinh Tawade and co-accused Sharad Kalaskar, who urged the HC to stop monitoring the trial which commenced on December 16, 2024, saying it could not usurp powers of the trial court.

Pansare and his wife were shot by unidentified assailants in Kolhapur during their morning walk on February 16, 2015. While his wife survived, the CPI leader died at a Mumbai hospital on February 20.

An SIT led by additional director general of police (criminal investigation department), Pune, which began investigating the case in 2015, revealed 12 names who were arraigned as accused in the case. Among them, two persons – Vinay B Pawar and Sarang D Akolkar – are yet to be arrested.

In their petition, Pansare’s kin claimed that the police had failed to trace the absconding accused who were the actual shooters as well as probe the role of Hindu right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha in the murder of Pansare, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and journalist Gauri Lankesh.

On August 3, 2022, the court directed the additional director general of police, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to constitute a new SIT and take over the probe. Subsequently, an SIT headed by Jayant Meena, superintendent of police, ATS took over the investigation.

While the Pansare family submitted a representation to the SIT raising various contentions and allegations, senior advocate Ashok Mundargi, who represented the state, said all of them were investigated in detail. Mundargi also told the high court that the prosecution had examined 28 witnesses in the trial court, but proceedings could not be completed as the case was being listed for hearing once in 15 days. Important witnesses such as Pansare’s wife, who is now infirm due to old age, remain to be examined by the trial court.

After hearing all sides, the bench of justices Gadkari and Khata said it was not necessary for the court to continue monitoring the probe as only two accused remained to be arrested. The court directed the trial court to expedite the hearing and conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis.

On April 18, 2023, the high court had decided to discontinue monitoring the 2013 murder case of Narendra Dabholkar, saying the trial had commenced and was progressing steadily.