Pune, Aug 27: The murders of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru last year and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in 2013 were linked, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in court here on Sunday.
Seeking extension of the custody of Sachin Andure, one of the alleged shooters in the Dabholkar case, the CBI told the court that one of the accused in the Gauri killing had handed over a pistol and three bullets with a magazine to Mr. Andure. The CBI said it is investigating if the pistol had been used to kill Dabholkar.
Judicial Magistrate First Class H.R. Jadhav extended Mr. Andure’s CBI custody till August 30.
Two murders
Dabholkar was shot dead while he was on a morning walk in August 2013. Gauri was shot dead in front of her residence in September 2017.
The CBI also told the court that the agency would seek the custody of Sharad Kalaskar, another alleged shooter in the Dabholkar case. Mr. Kalaskar is among the five people arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with the seizure of crude bombs and firearms.
“Kalaskar is currently in the custody of the ATS in the Nalasopara explosives seizure case. The CBI will seek his custody in the Dabholkar case also, as he and Andure need to be interrogated together,” Special Public prosecutor Vijaykumar Dhakane said.
He said the CBI would also seek the custody of those arrested by the Karnataka SIT in the Gauri case, as some of them were linked to the Dabholkar case and connected to Mr. Andure.
A CBI officer later said the agency was awaiting the ballistic report of the pistol, and that it would be premature to say if it was used in the Dabholkar murder. Defence counsel Prakash Salsingikar opposed the extension of Mr. Andure’s custody.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
Main problem is Modi govt ruling in centre. Killer may get clean chit. Even AMit shah got in different case without proving innocence
Who was the master mind of these two killings
Should stop such saffron agenda by giving capital punishment infront of public without any court procedures
Murders are caught then why the delay. Encounter those criminals. Dont waste money by feeding them
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