Narendra Dabholkar case: SIT defers decision on Tawade custody

Officials of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing Communist leader Govind Pansare’s murder case have delayed till next week its decision on taking the custody of Virendra Tawade, an accused in the Narendra Dabholkar murder, as the new head of the SIT needs time to study the case. However, the Pansare family has said the case is being hampered and wants the CBI to take over the investigation.

The CBI, which is probing the Dabholkar murder, had said Tawade was the mastermind in the Dabholkar and Pansare cases. In light of this, the SIT, which is based in Kolhapur, needed his custody to interrogate him.

Tawade, who was arrested on June 10, was sent to judicial custody on June 20. The Kolhapur police has got an order from the local court and nod from the Pune city court for the transit remand of Tawade. “We will take Tawade’s custody after June 23, as on June 23 we have to submit status report in the Pansare murder case in the Bombay high court. Now we are busy in this process and after that on June 24 we would take his custody,” an official from the SIT said.

Another SIT official said the new SIT chief had just joined and needed time to study the case. “Therefore we will decide next week about when should take Tawade’s custody for further investigation,” he said.

However, the Pansare family said officers of the SIT have been regularly transferred. Medha Pansare, daughter-in-law of Govind Pansare, said, “The investigation is so slow that till now only one person has been arrested in the case. In the past 18 months six IPS officials were transferred during the course of the investigation. How can one catch the accused if every officer has to start from scratch I hope the case is transferred to the CBI soon.”