Narendra Dabholkar case: Former cop who trained assassins faces arrest

The CBI plans to soon arrest a retired police officer who allegedly provided arms training to the accused who allegedly shot to death rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

Sources from the agency revealed that the officer in question is a resident of Pune and was serving in the police department when he imparted the said training.

“The officer in question will be arrested soon. We have kept a close watch on his activities. We could first summon him for questioning or arrest him directly in the next three-four days depending on the other corroborative evidence we gather by then,” a senior officer said.

The officer said that the retired police officer used to impart training to the two shooters in Jat and Phonda villages in 2013. Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013.

The retired police officer had trained the shooters after a request by Virendra Tawade, who was recently arrested by the CBI in connection with the Dabholkar murder, the source said.

Tawade was in contact with the officer till 2013 but after that both of them didn’t have any conversation, the source said, adding that the CBI team has obtained call details of the duo.

Meanwhile, Sanatan Sanstha on Friday revealed the identity of the key witness against Tawade as Sanjay Sadwilkar. The Sanstha also alleged that the witness is making false claims against Tawade and the Sanstha to take revenge on them.

Sanatan Sanstha’s spokesperson Abhay Vartak said, “The witness Sadwilkar is a corrupt man. He himself is facing charges of misappropriation of funds belonging to the Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur. His scam was unearthed by the Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad and the district collector had indicted this witness in his report in 2012. However, he escaped from the clutches of law for four long years thanks to political support. Efforts to implicate an innocent person on the basis of false allegations of such a tainted person puts a question mark on the CBI’s credibility and is bringing disrepute to the BJP government.”

“Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was in the opposition then, had demanded CID inquiry into the scam committed by Sadwilkar and others. To scuttle the inquiry and investigation into his misdeeds, Sadwilkar has participated in a conspiracy to defame Sanstha which would also help him to divert the attention from the scam that he is involved in,” Mr Vartak added.

Reacting to the Sanstha’s claims, CBI officials said, “We have already recorded his statement in front of a magistrate. It is an important evidence. Revealing the identity of a witness will not hamper our investigation at all. We have not yet decided whether to take action against the Sanstha for revealing his name or not. We now have the important task of Tawade’s interrogation.”

Referring to Tawade, who is in custody, the officials said his health is normal but when officers try to interrogate him, he complains of dementia or giddiness. He does not talk about anything related to the shooters. During interrogation he said only one line about Sarang Akolkar — the main accused in the 2009 Goa blast case —that he was a very active member of the Sanstha.