Govind Pansare

The Bombay high court on Thursday extended a stay on the trial in Communist leader Govind Pansare’s murder case after the state government informed the court that the prosecution would file a supplementary chargesheet against alleged key conspirator Virendrasingh Tawade by December 2.

The state also told the court that some material is not with the prosecution, as it was sent to Scotland Yard for forensic tests and the prosecution could not conduct a trial in absence of evidence.

Public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde informed the court that a major hurdle in commencing trial in the murder case had sprung up — the firearm was sent to Scotland Yard police for a ballistics report to find out links between murders of Pansare, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Kannada writer-scholar M.M. Kalburgi.

Mr Shine told the court that the prosecution could not conduct a trial in the absence of the evidence. He requested the court to grant further stay on the trial because, apart from the absence of evidence, the special investigation team (SIT) is all set to file a chargesheet against Tawade.

According to the investigating agency, Tawade, an alleged member of conservative Hindu group Sanatan Sanstha, is the key conspirator in the murder case. Tawade is also an accused in the rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case, being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

After hearing arguments, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere granted further extension to the stay.

Pansare, a noted rationalist, was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants near his house in Kolhapur on February 16, 2015. He died a few days later.

The high court stayed the trial before the Kolhapur court in June, 2016 on a petition filed by Pansare's family so that the SIT could obtain a ballistics report from a forensic laboratory in the United Kingdom.