Maharashtra Congress president Manikrao Thakre on Sunday demanded that the investigation into the murder case of Dr Narendra Dabholkar be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Interestingly, the demand was made a day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said that there was no need to ask the CBI to investigate the case.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Mr Thakre said, “If the police cannot solve the case, it should be handed over to the CBI.”
Activist Dr Dabholkar was shot dead at Omkareshwar Temple in Pune on August 20. However, no arrest has been made in the case so far.
Mr Pawar on Saturday had said that the police should be given more time to find out the culprits involved in Dr Dabholkar’s murder. Admiring the state police, he had said that it had in the past successfully solved many cases.
A London lab is processing the blurred CCTV footage to decipher the images of the killer duo supposedly captured by the cameras installed in a building in the vicinity, after the police technicians failed to get anything concrete from their examination of the video clip. The report from abroad is awaited, said the police.
The police has so far interrogated around 2,000 repeat offenders in the entire state, including over 1,000 from Pune alone, in addition to the inquiries, with around 400 people who are regular morning walkers on the bridge in the heart of the city. Though Dr Dabholkar’s family openly admitted their disappointment with the slow pace of investigations, they have refrained from demanding a CBI inquiry in the case.
“We still have faith in the Pune police and do not feel the need to demand a CBI inquiry,” said Mukta, Dr Dabholkar’s daughter and also an activist of the Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANS) founded by the slain activist.