Bombay High Court flays CBI, CID in activists’ killings probe

Says dissatisfied with progress of probe

The Bombay high court Tuesday once again expressed dissatisfaction over the slow progress of investigation into the murder cases of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and social activist Govind Pansare. The court reprimanded the investigating agencies and asked them to complete the probe instead of filing status reports.

The division bench, headed by Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari, posted the hearing for June 23 and asked the CBI and state CID to file a report in connection with progress in the investigation. The CBI is investigating the Dabholkar murder case, while the CID is probing Pansare’s killing.

After perusing the reports filed on Tuesday, the bench said it was not satisfied with the progress of the investigation and asked the agencies to continue the probe. The bench also said that it hoped at least now the agencies would achieve some concrete progress in investigation.

When the court was informed that the investigating officers would be required to enter some religious places too, the bench said that the officer would be doing his duty and should not hesitate to make such moves during the investigation. The bench said that the court expected the agencies to show promptness while investigating such serious cases and both were premier agencies and should demonstrate vigilance. “If you (CBI and CID) are facing any difficulties or any direct or indirect obstacles, then be candid and say so,” said the bench.

The high court also suggested that both the agencies get in touch with the victims’ families as they might have some valuable information and also the police officers who were first probing the cases before they were transferred to independent agencies.

The court was also informed that the agencies are waiting for permission of the trial court and if they get permission they would send the bullets abroad to get a ballistic report to find out if the same weapon was used in the Dabholkar, Pansare and another social activist M.M. Kalburgi’s killing.