Two unknown men gunned down renowned anti-superstition and progressive activist Narendra Dabholkar (69) early on Tuesday morning in Pune while he was taking a walk. The incident has sparked outrage amongst citizens and activists alike with intense demonstrations at Dr Dabholkar’s hometown in the Satara district.
The case was immediately transferred to the Pune police crime branch, which has formed eight teams to trace the killers.
Between 7.15 and 7.20 am, Dr Dabholkar was walking towards Omkareshwar Temple on the bridge opposite Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) when a bike went past him. The two unidentified men rode past him on a motorbike and parked their bike in the corner near the Cosmos Bank where the bridge touches the main road. “He was on the footpath and walking away from the PMC building. The bike went ahead of him and stopped in a corner when the two accused got down. They started walking back towards Dabholkar and then turned around to shoot him when he crossed them. One of the bullets hit the back of his skull,” said senior PI Manohar Joshi of the Deccan Gymkhana police station.
“We have recovered four 7.65 mm bullets from the spot that includes two live rounds and two spent cartridges,” Mr Joshi added. According to eyewitness accounts recorded by the police, after the shooting, the accused ran towards their bike and sped away. They took a left from the T-junction on the intersection of the bridge and the main road and rode towards the Shaniwar Peth area. The police reached the spot in the meanwhile and identified the deceased through a photo, a train ticket and a bank cheque found in his pocket. A passerby noted down the bike’s registration number as 7756 and the police are trying to place its owner.
Joint commissioner of Pune police Sanjeev Kumar Singhal said that from preliminary investigations and an examination of four wounds on Dr Dabholkar’s body, the police believes that three bullets could have hit him. The police has found two spent cartridges and two live cartridges on the bridge where Dr Dabholkar was shot. A 7.65 mm pistol was used in the murder.
Mr Singhal said that preliminary investigations showed that the assailants of Dr Dabholkar had committed the crime with proper planning as the victim spent Monday and Tuesday in Pune.