Narendra Dabholkar murder case: Sharad Kalaskar handed over to CBI custody

The National Investigation Agency court handed over custody of Sharad Kalaskar to Central Bureau of Investigation for his role in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar on Monday. Along with Vaibhav Raut, Sudhanva Gondhalekar and Srikant Pangarkar, the Maharashtra ATS had also arrested Kalaskar in the Nalasopara explosives case.

After hearing the case the NIA court also sent Raut and Gondhalekar to judicial custody and Pangarkar to police custody till September 6. Presenting their case, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) told the court that in a bid to target Dabholkar for his statements and comments— which he allegedly made against the Hindu religion — Pangarkar had conducted the  background on him.

The ATS also informed the court that Pangarkar was the one who organised training camps for the other accused persons in Jalna and made all arrangements which include — stay, finances and arms training. The ATS added that they had already done its panchnama for Pangarkar at Amravati.

Among the other revelations, the ATS informed that Pangarkar was in touch with Amol Kale from August 14, 2017, which was just two weeks before Gauri Lankesh was murdered in Bangalore. Amol Kale — the main accused in the murder of Gauri Lankesh — is currently in Karnataka SIT’s custody.

Suspecting the Pangarkar may also be involved in the murder case, as Karnataka police have also given details of Kale which also has Pangarkar’s name, ATS requested they need time to investigate the matter in detail. The investigative offers suspect that Pangarkar received money for the training camps and he did the transaction through his three bank accounts, which also needs to be investigated. Also, there are hints that Kale might have had also been present at the training camps.

ALSO READ: CBI tells court: Gauri Lankesh and Narendra Dabholkar murders are linked